KOCHI: With Kochi being named as the possible target point of a terror attack following the Sri Lanka blasts, the civic body has decided to beef up security of the city. As per the new move, the Kochi Corporation is planning to issue ID card to all migrant workers who come to work in the city. The ID card will be made compulsory for the migrant workers to engage in any kind of work under the Corporation limit.
“Kochi has become a hub of business activity and that invited several people to migrate to the city. However, we don’t have the exact number of migrant workers who are working in the city limit. Since the city is being targeted, we can’t afford to take a risk at this point. So, we are planning to issue ID cards for migrant workers. The project will be done by associating with the police and the Labour Department. Even several councillors in the recent council session raised the importance of providing the ID card to migrant workers,” said Mayor Soumini Jain when asked about the Corporation’s plan.
Meanwhile, the police too have stepped up surveillance on migrant workers after Kochi’s name too came under the target list of terrorists. Based on it, the police had issued guidelines to hotel and lodge owners to take a few mandatory measures while allotting rooms to guests.
“The welfare standing committee had some suggestion to issue an ID card but it failed to get a fillip. We are really unaware of who are coming to the city and leaving it. Proper accountability is essential as we can’t always depend on the earlier statistics. A final decision in this regard will be taken soon,” said the Mayor.
Meanwhile, the Labour Department had also registered 26,000 migrant workers in Ernakulam district under the insurance project of the state government. However, the list is incomplete with the floating migrant population. “Though the Police Department earlier brought registration for the migrant workers, it is yet to be implemented fully.
Even in my division, over 50 migrant workers are working for the Corporation and they have to start their job while all others are sleeping. Even the contractors have to depend on them for several works. But the sad thing is nobody has an ID card. Anybody can change the peaceful scenario here. We need the data of migrant workers and other people visiting the city. Accountability should be brought in place,” said Poornima Narayan, Education Standing committee chairperson who proposed to issue ID cards to migrant workers. Unfortunately, Ernakulam tops the list of the crimes committed by the migrant workers. As per the Home Department statistics released a few years ago, 660 cases were registered against the migrant workers between 2011 and 2016.