The Karnataka Government is looking at the return of guest workers to their hometowns as an opportunity for builders and Micro Medium and Small Enterprises (MSMEs) to employee locally.
Revenue Minister R Ashoka told Bangalore Mirror that builders and small factories used to hire people from outside the state as they agreed to work at cheaper wages than locals. “But Covid-19 taught us a lesson,’’ he said, pointing at the large exodus of migrant workers to their hometowns, forcing builders to stop construction work and halting several MSMEs in their tracks.
It is estimated that at least three lakh people are likely to leave Karnataka. “Labour shortage is being felt in the real estate sector. Over-dependence of developers and factories on guest workers has created this situation. Had they they paid a little more and given jobs to the locals, this could have been avoided,’’ said Ashoka.
‘No delay from our side’
Close to one lakh workers have registered so far to return to their hometowns. West Bengal, Odisha, Meghalaya, Assam, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Mizoram and Manipur are yet to respond to Karnataka’s query on accepting stranded workers. “Unless we get a written communication, it is not possible to send these workers back,’’ Ashoka said.
‘We will pay for our people’
Karnataka has decided to fully reimburse the travel expenses of all those returning to Karnataka. “We will pay for our people, let other states too pay for their people who are going back,’’ Ashoka said, dismissing suggestions that the state government should bear travel expenses of the guest workers.
“Why should we waste our taxpayers’ money on outsiders?” Ashoka asked. It is estimated that at least 10,000 people, mostly from Mumbai, are expected to return to the state. The State will be paying Rs 12 lakh per train to the respective state governments from where the train originates.
Rs 208 crore released to all districts
The district administrative machinery has been given adequate funds to prepare large-scale quarantining of people from outside the state, he said.
Ashoka, vice chairman of the Karnataka Disaster Management Board, said he has released Rs 208 crore from the State Disaster Relief Fund to all districts. Besides hospitals, the government has booked residential school, hostels, community and marriage halls to quarantine people coming from other states. “They can also pay and stay at designated hotels,’’ the minister said.
Credai dismisses insider-outsider theory
The Confederation of Real Estate Developers of India (Credai) said only 20 per cent of their workers have left for their hometowns.
Credai Bengaluru president Kishore Jain said, “Credai members control over 85 per cent in the sector while the remaining 15 per cent are mostly individual builders,’’ he said.
It is estimated that Karnataka, as per the officially registered figures, has around 18 lakh construction workers. Jain, however, dismissed Revenue Minister R Ashoka’s suggestion that hiring people from outside the state has caused the problem.
“We do not subscribe to outsider-and-insider theory. We hire locals as well as outsiders. There is not much manpower available in Karnataka,’’ he said. He also denied that non-locals were underpaid. “A few workers make more money than qualified engineers,’’ he said, referring to unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers required in the construction sector.
