West Bengal government gets 131 migrant workers back from Jammu and Kashmir

KOLKATA: The Mamata Banerjee government is bringing home 131 Bengal labourers working in Jammu & Kashmir after tracking them down from a video message circulating in Cooch Behar’s Mathabhanga.
The video showed four of them talking about their desperation to return home after Tuesday’s Kulgam massacre, in which five migrant labourers from Murshidabad’s Sagardighi were gunned down by terrorists.
Most of the 131 migrant workers being brought home are from Cooch Behar, North Dinajpur and Murshidabad districts.
“Two senior police officers are overseeing this operation from Bengal,” CM Banerjee told TOI on Friday. “A couple of our officials are in Jammu & Kashmir, helping those who want to return,” she added. Nine of them have already been brought to Srinagar by road with the CRPF’s help and the other 122 are scheduled to reach Srinagar by early morning on Saturday.
“Our resident commissioner in New Delhi has already approached the railways ministry to help us get the 131 labourers back to Bengal,” Banerjee said.
The efforts to get in touch with the workers seen in the video (at an undisclosed location in Baramulla) started in earnest on Thursday night after the CM spoke to state director-general of police Virendra.
CM: Safety of workers our top concern
Additional DGP (South Bengal) Sanjay Singh was roped in to coordinate between multiple government agencies engaged in tracking down the labourers.
The efforts hit a roadblock after the mobile phone from which the video was shared from Baramulla fell silent. But the labourers’ location could be traced and they were tracked down on Thursday night, following which CRPF help was sought.
“Other labourers, now in Jammu and Kashmir but seeking to return after the Kulgam massacre, then started contacting us. They will reach Srinagar by road by early Saturday and we will bring them back to Bengal by train. Our New Delhi-based resident commissioner is working on the logistics,” Mamata Banerjee said. “The migrant workers’ safety and security are our paramount concerns.”