Kolkata: State Labour minister Moloy Ghatak in the Assembly on Friday said that around 242 migrant labourers from Bengal have been stranded in the landslide-hit Wayanad district in Kerala out of which nearly around 200 labourers have been contacted and they are safe.
In reply to a query by Hingalganj Trinamool Congress MLA Debes Mandal, Ghatak said that as many as 242 migrant labourers from the state are in Wayanad. Attempts are being made to contact all of them. Later in the day, the Labour minister told the reporters that the state government has been able to establish contacts with around 200 labourers till Friday afternoon.
He also pointed out that all the remaining people could have been contacted soon. “If the labourers wish to return from the affected area, the state administration will arrange transportation and look after their well-being,” the minister added.
“As per our data, 242 labourers from Bengal are stranded in Wayanad district. We have established contact with 200 of them. We are trying to get in touch with others,” he said. The minister also pointed out that as labourers from Bengal are highly skilled, they are always in demand in the southern state. The stranded migrant labourers are from Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Darjeeling, Paschim Medinipur, Murshidabad and Birbhum districts of West Bengal, he said.
Ghatak also said that altogether 21,59,737 migrant labourers from Bengal have gone to different states in the country. Of them, 3,65,123 have gone to different parts of Kerala. The minister also pointed out that Bengal has around 1 crore migrant labourers working in the state who have come here from different states, including Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Altogether 205 people died and 264 were injured in the massive landslides that hit Wayanad district early on July 30. Additionally, 130 body parts were also recovered, according to the Kerala Health Department. With nearly 200 people still missing, the death toll is expected to go up.
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday had expressed her deep sorrow over the incident of landslide in Kerala’s Wayanad calling it a “grave disaster”. Banerjee on Thursday had announced that two of her party MPs, Saket Gokhale and Sushmita Dev, would travel to the affected areas of Wayanad to provide assistance and support to the families impacted by the disaster.