KOCHI: Country ’s first ever Migrant Resource Centre was inaugurated in Kochi by Union Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi on Monday. The MRC office is in the premises of Protector of Emigrant office, Puthenpurakkal Building on Market Road.
Addressing the gathering, Vayalar Ravi said that the centre was in tune with the initiatives taken by the Union Government to ensure welfare and legal security to the common man working abroad.
“The MRC will provide facilities for walk-in counselling and telephonic helpline for information.
As the next step sub centres of the centre will be opened in all the districts,” Vayalar Ravi said. He also said that he had asked the state government to take stringent action against the recruiting agencies which misguide and cheat foreign employment aspirants.
A joint venture of Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and International Organisation of Migration, the centre was opened as part of implementing the project ‘Regional Dialogue and Programme on Facilitating Managed and Legal Migration between Asia and the European Union’ in India.
Eight such centres have been planned all over the country.
The project is sponsored by the European Union and covers 10 Asian countries, including India. The overall objective is to facilitate the development of legal labour migration from South and South-East Asia to the EU, to enhance regional cooperation on the management of labour migration and to curb irregular migration.