Stalin meets migrant labourers to allay their fears

To allay their fears, Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday met migrant labourers working at a private factory in Tirunelveli district and got to know from them about their “comfortable” stay in Tamil Nadu, while asking them not to “believe in rumours” that they are “unsafe” in the state.

Stalin visited Kanam Latex Industries at Kavalkinaru in Tirunelveli district which employs over 150 migrant labourers, including women, from Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal. The Chief Minister’s outreach comes days after unrelated videos with messages alleging that Bihari migrants in Tamil Nadu were killed and attacked went viral creating panic among the migrant population who form an integral part of the state’s economy.

The rumours were quite strong that the state government had to reach out to the migrant labourers by issuing statements in Hindi and launching dedicated helplines to cater to their needs. The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) and several district administrations launched massive outreach programmes to reassure the migrant labourers that their safety will never be compromised in the state.

Also Read: ‘Attack’ on Bihar migrants: Apprehensions over exodus of north Indian workers from Tamil Nadu

Video footage aired by Tamil television channels showed Stalin interacting with the migrant labourers in English and Tamil seeking to know how they are being treated in the state. The Chief Minister went around the factory interacting with migrant labourers and giving them an assurance that they will remain safe in the state.

When a migrant labourer from Jharkhand told him that they heard of “some problem” in Tiruppur but they were “safe” here, the Chief Minister said those were “mere rumours” and there was no truth in such messages. “They are spreading such rumours. You don’t have to believe them. We will take care of things,” Stalin told the labourer.

Meanwhile, DMK parliamentary party leader T R Baalu also met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna and briefed him about the steps being taken by the Tamil Nadu government to instill confidence in migrant labourers in the state.

A high-level committee headed by Bihar Rural Development Secretary D Balamurugan also wrapped up its four-day visit to Tamil Nadu by meeting Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu. The team visited Tiruppur and Coimbatore and interacted with migrant labourers from Bihar and allayed their fears about fake news doing the rounds on social media.

“We are certain that all the news that was circulating on social media is false. The migrant labourers from Bihar are safe in Tamil Nadu and are not under threat. We interacted with district administrations on the efforts taken by them to instill confidence in migrants,” Balamurugan told reporters in Chennai.