TN police go the extra mile to safeguard interests of guest workers

A Deputy Superintendent of Police and the local Tahsildar visited the factory and found out that the girl indeed spoke to her father lamenting how she could not return due to the lockdown and her father twisted the story to a journalist in the hope that his daughter could be back home. However, before the Jharkhand government took up the matter with the State, the matter had been resolved here and to convince them, videos of her statement that she was not harassed in any manner were also sent to Jharkhand.

This was just one of the tasks that the State’s dedicated police force undertook to ensure the welfare of guest workers after the nation went under the lockdown to fight COVID-19. “We even offered to shift the girl to a government accommodation, but she refused and said she is comfortable at her employer’s accommodation,” said ADGP Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal.

Soon after the lockdown was announced, the State government formed a team comprising IAS and IPS officers to ensure the welfare of the guest workers, while DGP nominated Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal as the nodal officer.

“The details of the labourers from other states staying in various government shelters were collated. We identified 3,800 such centres across Tamil Nadu, accommodating about two lakh guest workers. In districts such as Tirupur, Coimbatore, Erode, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu, the number of guest workers under care exceeds 15,000.

In each district, a DSP-level officer was appointed as nodal officers and 950 in head constable rank appointed as liaison officers,” said Mahesh Kumar.

Their role is to visit the camps and those staying at their employer’s place twice a day and check if the guest workers have any grievances. “They inquire about their food, health and hygiene and develop a rapport so that workers raise concerns without hesitation,” said the official.

In each district, there is a WhatsApp group comprising all liaison officers and the DSP concerned, in which they would post photos of the activities at accommodation centres and the grievances if any. And there is a WhatsApp group of all district nodal officers through which directions are given to them based on the information received at the control room in ADGP’s office.

Some of the common demand from the workers, apart from returning to their natives, was about cooked food. Arrangements were then made to provide them with dry ration so that they can cook as they wish. Also, the control room received complaints that some landlords were threatening to throw out guest workers if they don’t pay monthly rent. “We intervened and spoke to the landlords through the DSPs and bought time for them,” said the ADGP.

Tiruvallur SP P Aravindhan, who held a meeting with liaison officers in the district on Wednesday asked them to check if there are migrant workers who are yet to come under the police welfare radar. “They are living in a different state where the spoken language is different. They neither have a job nor money and stay far away from their family. So, attending to their grievances is very important,” he told them.