Stop Treating Migrant Workers Like Modern-Day Slaves
THE organised violence against migrant workers continues in Modi’s Gujarat where Chandreshwar Manjhi of Arwal district of Bihar was brutally stabbed to death last fortnight.
Meanwhile in Giridih district of Jharkhand two dead bodies of migrant workers reached their villages from Gujarat and Rajasthan on 11 and 12 November respectively. Samruddin Ansari of Beko village was working in a power transmission company in Gujarat where he was killed in a workplace accident on 9 November. Laxman Mahato of Aura village was working in Rajasthan in KOPGW which also is an electricity transmission company. He died because of a sudden flow of current while working on an overhead tower. Workplace negligence has robbed two families of their loved ones who were also the sole bread earners.
CPI(ML) central committee member and ex-MLA from Bagodar Vinod Singh has been fighting for years for the rights of migrant workers of Jharkhand who work in other states and countries. He along with many activists visited both the families to pay respects as well as to express solidarity. Activists did not allow the ambulance which brought the mortal remains of Laxman Mahato to go back till the compensation amounts were handed over to the aggrieved family. Comrade Vinod Singh pointed out that such compensation is merely a penalty to hold the employer accountable for such deaths – it can never really compensate the family members for the loss of their loved ones.
Comrade Vinod Singh said that within a month eight migrant workers of Bagodar belonging to Beko, Khetko, Aura, Mahuri, Chichaki, Gorhar and Biren Bera villages have died in different states and outside the country while at work. The Jharkhand government has not taken such frequent workplace deaths of migrant workers from the state seriously. Most of such deaths are not reported, and most of the time employer companies do not provide even minimum compensation until compelled by people’s protests. He condemned the failure of the Central Government to free the workers abducted in Afghanistan and even to give any official report on the status of the workers.
The CPI(ML) has demanded that the Jharkhand government frame guidelines and implement the existing law meant to protect migrant workers, ensure compensation amount as well as life insurance benefits for the family member of any migrant worker killed on the job.
