While the focus has been on big metropolitan centres in the country with regard to the issue of migrant workers being stranded as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, government data shows that Chhattisgarh has the largest number of such workers, followed by Kerala and then Maharashtra.
According to data released by the Chief Labour Commissioner, which falls under the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment, over 26 lakh migrant workers are present in 33 states and union territories.
The preliminary data released by the CLC following a rap from the Central Information Commission accounts for 26,17,218 migrant workers spread across the country. Chhattisgarh has the maximum number of workers at 10.85 lakh, followed by Kerala at 2.86 lakh, Maharashtra at 2.01 lakh, Tamil Nadu at 1.93 lakh and Andhra Pradesh at one lakh.
A majority of the labourers, as much as 46 per cent, are in migrant clusters. Around 43 per cent are living in in-situ facilities at their workplaces and 10 per cent of them are in relief camps or shelter homes.
Kerala has the maximum number of workers (1.34 lakh) in relief camps or shelter homes, and another 1.07 lakh workers in the state are accommodated in-situ at their workplaces. Over 45,000 workers in the state live in migrant clusters.
In Chhattisgarh, a vast majority of the workers (8.6 lakh) live in migrant clusters, and only 4,018 are in relief camps or shelter homes. Around 2.2 lakh workers in the state are living in-situ at their workplaces.
Telangana again has very few workers who are in relief camps or shelter homes (1,291) compared to those who are sheltered at their workplaces (over 89,000) or living in migrant clusters (over 92,000).
Maharashtra has over 21,000 workers in relief camps and shelter homes, while 1.30 lakh are accommodated at their workplaces. Over 30,000 workers in the state are in migrant clusters.
In Andhra Pradesh, over 11,000 workers are in relief camps and shelter homes, with over 80,000 accommodated at their workplaces and over 8,000 others living in migrant clusters.
As per the data for Tamil Nadu, no worker has been accommodated in relief camps or shelter homes. Over 1.39 lakh workers are living at their workplaces and over 54,000 are in migrant clusters.
The data was released by the CLC following a directive from the CIC that information about stranded workers be put up on an official website within a week.
The CIC’s advisory was made under Section 25(5) of the Right to Information Act, 2005. It asked the CLC to upload all available information about migrant workers who were left stranded due to the COVID-19-related restrictions, in accordance with Section 4 of the Act.
The central appellate body had, on May 27, conducted an out-of-turn hearing of a complaint filed by transparency activist Venkatesh Nayak regarding the CLC’s failure to provide information on stranded migrant workers.
Nayak, programme head, Access to Information Programme at the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, had, on April 21, filed an RTI application with the office of the CLC to seek information about workers stranded in different parts of the country since the imposition of lockdown on March 25.
