UP to pay industries for giving jobs to migrant workers

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / Apr 4, 2021

The Uttar Pradesh government has proposed an economic package of Rs 629 crore for providing jobs and social security to nearly four millions migrant workers, who had returned to the state during Covid-19 pandemic last year.

A blueprint prepared by the UP micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) department, seeks to provide financial assistance to industries offering jobs to these migrant workers.

Under this scheme, the Yogi Adityanath government will provide a monetary aid of Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 per labourer to the industries. The MSME department has sent a proposal of Rs 629 crore to the UP finance department for vetting and approval.

Amid the heavy influx of workers from other states following lockdown, the UP government worked to harness their skills by providing them with jobs suited to their workmanship. The state prepared a strategy to provide jobs and social security to these workers, for which skill mapping of over 2.5 million workers was done.

Besides, the UP government developed a dedicated ‘Pravasi Rahat Mitra’ job portal for the migrants, wherein details of the skilled workers was uploaded to expedite the recruitment process by the interested companies or agencies.

Chief minister Adityanath has instructed to model the financial assistance scheme on the lines of the handloom sector, where a grant of Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 is given per worker.

This is expected to generate jobs at the local level for migrant labourers. The migrant workers who are registered with the state portal will also be linked with other job oriented schemes like Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana and Mukhyamantri Pravasi Rojgar Yojana.