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Back home, Purnia migrants get jobs ‘tailored’ to skills
Md Hakim, 25 and Md Kamal, 20 are among 73 migrant workers from Purnia who have been engaged in making face masks.
Md Hakim, 25 and Md Kamal, 20 are among 73 migrant workers from Purnia who have been engaged in making face masks.
Hakim said, “We had never thought that we will get a job as per our choice given that so many people are losing their jobs everywhere due to the Covid pandemic.”
Hakim who used to work in Kerala said that now, he won’t even think of going back.
Md Kamal said, “I got a job on the eve of Eid. It is a god-given gift. The district administration has been helping us a lot.”
Purnia district magistrate (DM) Rahul Kumar said, “During skill mapping of the migrant workers lodged at the quarantine centres at Shrinagar block, we had identified several migrants who had knowledge of tailoring. As many as 73 migrants with tailoring skills have been engaged in making of three-layer masks.”The migrants have completed their quarantine period.
“All the 73 migrants identified had come from Kerala by special trains and were quarantined at their home block,” Shrinagar block development officer (BDO) Om Prakash said.
“The migrants started making the masks on Wednesday and we are expecting production of at least 1,000 to 1,500 masks daily” he said. “The migrants will earn between ₹600 to ₹ 800 per day depending upon their speed and efficiency,” said the BDO.
Meanwhile, over 2,500 migrants who have completed their quarantine period have been engaged in the work under Lohiya Swachh Bihar Abhiyan (LBSA), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna among other government schemes. Also, a few migrants who have completed their quarantine have been engaged in digging ponds, cleaning canals beds, planting trees under Bihar government’s ambitious Jal Jeevan Hariyali mission in several blocks of the district.
The Purnia DM said, “About 1,000 skilled migrants will be engaged in agro-based industries run in Bihar Industrial Area of Development (BIADA) in Purnia.”
