Government to set up 10 migrant support centres in Capital

Delhi government has already started the process of setting up three such centres in East, West and South Delhi from where migrant workers can get information, said an official, asking not to be named.

The Delhi government will set up 10 ‘migrant workers support centres’ across the Capital, with officials saying that the idea is to help prevent a repeat of the crisis witnessed during the previous lockdowns, particularly the first one, when these workers faced lack of credible information about food, ration cards, and welfare schemes, among others.

A huge rush of migrant workers at Anand Vihar Bus Terminal in New Delhi, days after the central government announced a nationwide lockdown to contain Covid-19, on March 28, 2020. (Biplov Bhuyan/HT PHOTO)

Delhi government has already started the process of setting up three such centres in East, West and South Delhi from where migrant workers can get information, said an official, asking not to be named.

The first migrant workers support centre will come up in Vishwakarma Nagar, Jhilmil Colony, at the cost of ₹1.86 crore, and will be completed in nine months. “A tender has recently been floated for the purpose and financial bids will open on February 17,” said the official, adding that the tender for other centres will be issued soon.

An officer said that the centres will have government officials to provide single-window assistance to the migrant workers in all related work. “It will not only be available for them during the times of crisis, but will be centres of standing help for them,” the officer said.

“During the lockdowns, many migrant workers sought ration and food from those they knew or through common friends because they were not aware about how they can get ration. The government also distributed ration to those without ration cards for months. There was also a flood of misinformation which was also responsible for triggering mass exodus of migrant workers from Delhi during the lockdowns,” said the official.

Thaneshwar Adigaur, secretary of the Delhi Asangathit Nirman Mazdoor Union, said Delhi has one of the largest populations of migrant workers throughout the country. “People from Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and several other places come to Delhi for work. They are not educated and are often unaware of the welfare schemes and are thus are deprived of the benefits. Such centres will help the workers make their life a little easy,” said Adigaur, who is also a member of the advisory committee of the Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board.

According to the official quoted above, the welfare board disbursed ₹5,000 financial aid each to over 264,000 registered construction workers till July 2021 to tide over pandemic crisis.

Subsequently in November 2021, the government deposited ₹5,000 more as assistance amount to the accounts of around 295,000 construction workers whose livelihood was affected due to closure of construction activities in Delhi due to severe pollution conditions.