Mamata Banerjee on Monday urged the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (Credai), the apex body of realtors, to help her bring back skilled construction workers of Bengal who migrated to other states or abroad.

“There are lakhs of skilled construction workers in districts like Murshidabad, Malda and North Dinajpur. They are hired (by agencies) outside and even in different countries for their expertise in the construction sector. They went there for better income opportunities but they don’t have safety and security there. So, I will request you (Credai) to bring back those skilled workers who are currently working outside Bengal,” the chief minister said at a Credai event at the Dhana Dhanye auditorium here .

Samirul Islam (in plane white shirt), the chairman of the West Bengal Migrant Workers' Welfare Board, at a Duare Sarkar camp in Rajarhat High School of Cooch Behar 2 block on Monday, along with officials of the state labour department and others. Main Uddin Chisti

Mamata’s request assumes significance at a time when her government is trying its best to reduce migration from Bengal to other places and create incentives to effect a U-turn of migrated workers following the deaths of 27 migrant workers from Bengal in different states last month.

Among the 27, 23 migrant workers — all youths from Malda — were killed on August 23 in Mizoram when an under-construction railway bridge fell. Three more from Murshidabad were killed in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, on August 25 when they touched a live wire while working at a high-rise.

A source in Trinamul said the party had taken the issue very seriously as the Opposition, especially the BJP, had been flagging the issue of migrant workers to mount an attack on the Mamata government over joblessness in Bengal.

The state government recently formed the West Bengal Migrant Workers’ Welfare Board, a first-of-its-kind entity dedicated to matters related to migrant workers.

“The state government is focused on creating jobs by setting up industries in the state. There is a special focus on the small industries to create more job options and thereby prevent potential migrant labourers.... The effort is not only for construction workers but people working in other sectors as well,” said a senior state government official.

As part of an attempt to ensure jobs for migrant workers in Bengal, the state government will prepare a database of those working outside Bengal, helped by the camps across the state for the latest edition of Duare Sarkar. The state government has also announced a loan up to Rs 5 lakh to migrant workers if they want to set up their own business here.

“We will make them understand that if they (migrants) work locally, they can save the money spent on food, accommodation, and transportation and try to bring them back to the state. We will continue requesting them (to return back),” said Mamata.

The chief minister said her government would provide a database of skilled migrant workers to Credai as soon as possible. In the first two days of the Duare Sarkar camps, around 47,000 migrant workers registered themselves, with around 14,000 were from Murshidabad, followed by West Midnapore, Malda and Nadia with 7,241, 5,464, and 4,572 migrant workers, respectively.

Rough estimates suggest 22 lakh migrant workers from Bengal work in Indian states and another five lakh abroad, mainly in the Gulf. However, Mamata on Monday said Bengal’s migrant workers might total 50 lakh.

“We will give you the database of the migrant workers. It will be a very good initiative if you can involve them in your project in Bengal. They are already skilled and you don’t have to train them as freshers,” Mamata added.

Some realtors from south and north Bengal said the supply of workers was several times higher than demand.

“In the case of north Bengal, the real estate sector is concentrated in Siliguri, Darjeeling and Kalimpong. All construction workers we hire here are from north Bengal,” said a developer in Siliguri.

Sushil Mohta, president of Credai in West Bengal, however, said that the organisation would do its best to fulfil the chief minister’s wish.

“We are facing huge shortage of skilled workers.... Credai will run skill development programmes for workers and use the databases of workers engaged outside the state and try to bring them back to their home state offering opportunities in our projects,” he said.

Meeting the objective, however, will be easier said than done, said a source.

According to him, people from Bengal migrate to other states and abroad because of higher wages and would not want to return unless the wages in Bengal match. A mason paid Rs 500-600 a day in Bengal gets anywhere between Rs 800 and Rs 1,000 in states such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu or Maharashtra.

Samirul Islam, the migrant workers’ welfare board chairman, said: “Migration of workers is natural and lakhs of people from other states also work in Bengal. We are trying to retain the potential migrant workers and those who want to come back home.”