BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Wednesday directed collectors of 11 migration-prone districts to identify members of the families who leave for other states in search of work and provide them permanent income-generating jobs.
Presiding over a high-level meeting here, chief secretary Manoj Ahuja discussed measures to prevent distress migration which is prevalent in 30 blocks of Bargarh, Balangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Gajapati, Rayagada, Malkangiri and Sonepur districts.
The government is planning to provide around 200 to 300 days of work to labourers in these districts to provide them alternate livelihood options. Official sources said this will prevent distress migration from such families.
It was decided that work provided by the government under different schemes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme of the Panchayati Raj department, afforestation under the Forest department and livelihood works under SC and ST Development department will be brought under convergence mode to provide work to labourers.
Identified persons in the 30 migration-prone blocks will be provided labour-intensive work for next three months. Besides, they will also be provided work under different schemes launched by the government to prevent distress migration. Interest waiver on loans taken by such persons will also be provided.
The collectors of the 11 migration-prone districts were asked to review the situation regularly and submit report to government. Officials of the Labour department were also asked to visit the states where labourers from Odisha migrate for work and study their situation and cause of migration.
Besides, a decision was taken to launch awareness campaign among families prone to migration in these 30 blocks by involving representatives of the panchayati raj institutions.