A day after holding talks with Tamil Nadu government authorities over the brewing migrant workers issue in Chennai, the official delegation from Bihar visited knitwear hub Tirupur on Sunday to check on the safety of workers from the state after “fake” videos claiming attacks on the workforce had led to panic among them.
Led by Bihar rural development secretary D. Balamurugan, the four-member team expressed satisfaction over the steps taken by the Tamil Nadu government and the Tirupur district administration to ensure the safety and protection of the workers.
They discussed the issue with the officials including district collector S. Vineeth and police commissioner Praveen Kumar, representatives of the textile industry and contractors who bring in workers from other states, Balamurugan said.
Nitish Kumar. File picture
The delegation also interacted with the workers and told them not to believe in rumours and fake videos, after which they regained their confidence, the senior officer said.
“We are satisfied with the steps taken by the Tamil Nadu government and the district administration in ensuring the safety of the workers,” he said.
More than 1.7 lakh migrant workers are employed in Tirupur in readymade garment manufacturing and allied industries, district officials said.
Tamil Nadu chief minister M. K. Stalin on Saturday had reassured his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar that all migrant workers are safe and the police of the southern stateregistered cases against two journalists, including the editor of a Hindi daily, for spreading rumours.
The issue of fake claims of attacks on the migrant workforce in Tamil Nadu snowballed into a political slugfest between the ruling DMK and the BJP. The saffron party targeted the Nitish Kumar-led regime in Bihar, which dispatched an official team for fact-finding.
