Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren's personal intervention led to the safe return of 27 migrant workers stranded in Cameroon in Africa.

The stranded workers arrived in Jharkhand on Wednesday morning and each of them received cheques of ₹25,000 from the state government as monetary assistance.

“On the instructions of the chief minister and the prompt initiative of the department of labour, employment, training and skill development, 27 workers of Jharkhand working in Vinayak Construction, Face Gendarmerie, and Jean-Paul Mabanklo Company in Yaounde, Cameroon, returned home safely on Wednesday,” said a communique issued by the state government.

“As soon as the labour department received the complaint, immediate action was taken on it and L&T Company and the Indian High Commission were talked to and the amount was paid to all the concerned migrant workers in their accounts on the same day. Also, the migrant workers who wanted to return to their country were called to India with the help of the Indian High Commission,” the communique further informed.

Among the migrant workers who returned 18 workers are from Bokaro, four from Giridih and five from Hazaribagh district. All the workers were given a grand welcome by the Giridih district administration by garlanding them at Parasnath station.

Later in the day at a function held at a private hotel, cheques of ₹25,000 were distributed to each of the workers.

The chief minister was made to talk to the workers online through mobile phones. He encouraged all the workers and said that the state government is always ready to serve them.

“The government's effort is to provide employment opportunities to the workers in the state itself so that the workers do not have to migrate anywhere,” the chief minister said to the workers.

According to the stranded workers, they have been working in Cameroon since March 29 this year.