The Bengal government has taken an initiative to identify potential migrant labourers and create incentives for them to stay in the state as part of a larger plan to reduce the number of low-skill or semi-skilled workers who leave for other states or go abroad for livelihood.

The Mamata Banerjee government has already begun the process of launching several welfare schemes for migrant labourers by forming a board for the purpose and registering the names of people who work outside Bengal.

The plan to target potential migrant labourers, sources in Nabanna said, was in discussion for quite some time but the government decided to go ahead with it immediately in the backdrop of the communal violence in Gurgaon that forced hundreds of migrant workers to return to Bengal.

“The state government is keen to help the workers who have already migrated to different states in search of jobs. This is why a migrant workers’ welfare scheme has recently been launched. But the government is more eager to find a solution for the potential migrant workers so that they are not forced to leave the state,” said a senior bureaucrat.

The plan to provide assistance to the potential migrant workers will start from the next Duare Sarkar camps to be held in September as the youths from the rural areas will be encouraged to register their names if they wish to find jobs in other states.

“Our first focus is to ensure that all migrant workers and their family members benefit from multiple state government schemes. There are 64 such schemes and at least half of them are suitable for migrant workers. If we can reach out to the migrant workers’ families, it would create goodwill and the confidence in the government will reduce the possibility of migration,” said Samirul Islam, the chairman of the West Bengal Migrant Workers’ Welfare Board. Islam is also a Trinamul Congress Rajya Sabha member.

In addition to the Duare Sarkar camps, the government will engage the self-employed labour organisers (SLO) — which implement government schemes for labourers in rural areas against a commission — to find out the potential migrant workers.

“There are nearly 3,000 such SLOs across the state. In brief, almost each of the gram panchayats has one SLO. These SLOs have a clear knowledge of their area. So, they can easily identify which youths can migrate in search of jobs in the near future,” said an official.

Once the potential migrant workers are identified, the government will organise skill development programmes for them.

“Many companies carry out projects in the state. They often hire labourers from other states like Bihar, Jharkhand and UP. We are trying to get in touch with major companies working in the state and will try to supply labourers according to their requirements from the pool of our trained labourers,” explained an official.

As of now, a source has said, the government has a database of at least 2,00,000 such job opportunities in Bengal, including 1,00,000 in the construction sector, 50,000 in the hotel field and the rest in other sectors like food processing and packaging.

The Opposition parties, mainly the BJP, have been criticising the government for the plight of migrant workers, saying poor villagers were being forced to go to other states in search of jobs only because the Trinamul dispensation had failed to create employment opportunities in Bengal.

Besides, the ruling party is facing questions in the Muslim-dominated areas as youths from the community are migrating in large numbers.

Although a section of government officials hailed the government’s efforts, some economists think the administration should not actively try to prevent migration in search of livelihood. The workers often migrate to other states not only to secure better wages but also to augment their skillset.

“The effort to provide assistance to the potential migrant workers is a good initiative. Those who want to work here should be assisted. Migration to other states often helps a state’s economy and the development of local areas,” said an expert.

Islam, the chairman of the migrants’ welfare board, agreed with the expert and said the government didn’t have any plan to restrict migration.

The board has a plan to hold up awareness camps with potential migrant workers to let them know about job options in Bengal. An official said the wages in Bengal may be lower than those in Kerala or Maharashtra, but the cost of living in those states is much higher.