- Mamata Banerjee announced Shramasree scheme for returning Bengali migrant workers with job cards
- Returning workers will receive Rs 5000 per month for one year or until they get jobs
- Workers will get benefits under the state government's food and health schemes
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced a scheme for Bengali migrant workers who have been forced to return from other states. The "Shramasree project" will provide them with job cards through a web portal.
Announcing the project today, the Chief Minister said these returning workers would also receive Rs 5000 per month for one year or till the time they get employment.
They will also receive benefits under "Khadhya Sathi" food assurance scheme and the 'Sawastha Swathi' health scheme, the Chief Minister said. The government will also take care of their children's education.
In the run-up to the state elections next year, Ms Banerjee has taken up the issue of migrant workers, who, she claims, are being harassed and driven out of BJP-ruled states. Around 22 lakh migrant workers and their families are being 'harassed' in BJP-ruled states, she said today. Pre-planned attacks are taking place on Bengali migrant workers in BJP-ruled states, she has said.
Her attack sharpened after the administration in Haryana's Gurugram detailed 52 Bengali migrant workers, suspecting they are illegal migrants from Bangladesh and started investigating their background.
The Chief Minister had earlier asked such workers to return, promising that the state will take care of its own.
Today, she said, "The workers who are working in other states are returning helpless, tortured, are being labelled criminals because of their language. We have taken a decision on all these issues. We have prepared a plan to bring back the Bengali speaking workers working in states outside Bengal and to rehabilitate them. The project has been named Sramasree".
"We are giving Rs 5000 to Mamata Banerjee. You should immediately run away from Bengal. Every migrant worker earns Rs 50,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh. This Rs 5000 will not do anything for them. They are happy in Gujarat, happy in Maharashtra, happy in Delhi, happy in Haryana, happy in South India. They will not come to Bengal for Rs 5000," said Leader of the Opposition in assembly, the BJP's Suvendu Adhikari.
Sources have said that Ms Banerjee is likely to skip the inauguration of three Kolkata metro projects by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 22.
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