Senior BJP leader and former chief minister Babulal Marandi has asked chief minister Hemant Soren to consider opening Jharkhand pravasi kendras in major cities to cater to the interests of migrant workers of the state.

In a letter written to Hemant on Tuesday, Marandi pointed out that such centres, on the lines of foreign embassies or consulates, can monitor workers who would go out from Jharkhand and look after their interests.

The BJP legislature party leader said these centres could be opened in cities like Mumbai and Delhi and states such as Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, or elsewhere, after identifying the density of workers in each.

“It would be easy for the government to reach out to such workers,” Marandi pointed out, alluding to the state government having had to open helplines to seek details of workers who were stranded due to Covid-induced lockdown.

Marandi further said that no one was sure how many workers from Jharkhand had left the state to earn a livelihood, and how many of them actually returned, adding the total number could surpass the estimated figure of 10 lakh and be around 12 lakh instead.

He suggested that the state government prepare a database of all workers with individual details like skill and place of work.

“Jharkhand at present has the highest rate of unemployment,” Marandi mentioned in his letter, quoting the latest data from a report published by Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy that said the rate of unemployment, which was 8.2 per cent in March, had gone up to 59.2 per cent due to the Covid crisis.

“Though the state government was claiming to give employment to all who returned home, it would be impossible to give them jobs according to their skills,” Marandi said, adding a plumber or an IT professional would not be suitable for a rural job scheme under the employment guarantee act.

As such, the workers who had returned would tend to go out again in search of work, the former chief minister opined.