Bihar team satisfied with TN govt on safety measures for workers in Tirupur

PATNA: A high-level team of senior officials from Bihar reached Tamil Nadu on Sunday and interacted with officials in the Tirupur district, along with representatives of migrant workers, labour contractors, and non-government organisations (NGOs) to verify the incidence of violence allegedly perpetrated by the locals on labourers from Bihar over language divide.

The team, comprising rural development secretary Balamurugan D, inspector general (IG), P Kannan, special secretary, labour resources department, Alok Kumar, and superintendent of police (crime investigation department) Santosh Kumar,was rushed to Chennai after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders stalled the proceedings of the ongoing budget session of the state legislatures, alleging that locals in Tamil Nadu were attacking migrants workers from Bihar in different parts of the state.

Talking to media persons in Tirupur, Balamurugan said that the team was interacting with migrant labourers and are in touch with labour contractors. He advised the people not to pay heed to rumours and fake videos. “The governments of Tamil Nadu and Bihar are taking all efforts to ensure the safety of migrants here,” said the officer.

“We are satisfied by the steps taken by the Tamil Nadu government and the district administration in ensuring the safety of the workers to allay the fears from their minds,” Balamurugan said.

Another officer said that all three videos of violence allegedly on workers and Hindi-speaking people, being circulated on social media, are not of migrant labourers from Bihar.

“The situation is normal. A report on our visit would be submitted to the state government soon,” the second officer said.

The team of officials from Bihar will go to Coimbatore on Monday and meet the concerned officials and Bihari migrants.

The leader of the opposition in the assembly and the legislative council Vijay Kumar Sinha and Samrat Chaudhary had disrupted business in their respective houses on Thursday and Friday and demanded the resignation of chief minister Nitish Kumar for his failure to ensure the safety of migrants in Tamil Nadu. They claimed that nearly a dozen workers from Bihar were killed in Tripur district, which led to a sudden surge in their home-bound journey to escape ‘brutality’.

Chief secretary AmirSubhani, when contacted, said the officials’ team was visiting different parts of the state, where violence is suspected to have taken place, and are compiling the details. “I have not received any input from the team. Let them come, we will share the findings,” said the chief secretary.

Citing a statement issued by the TN chief minister MK Stalin on Saturday, a senior officer of the Bihar government claimed that the state police had dismissed the video clips relating to purported assault on Bihari migrants circulating on social media and reported by a section of the mainstream media as ‘false’ and ‘mischievous.

“A BJP leader and two journalists have been booked on the charges of circulating fake messages and planting unsubstantial reports regarding the class between labourers from North India and local people,” said the officers, adding that helpline numbers have been released for the migrant workers to reach out in case of any emergency.

Reacting to the hue and cry raised by the BJP leaders in the state legislature, deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Sunday said that the state government is serious in this matter and hence a team had been sent to Tamil Nadu. “Both, Bihar and TN governments will not tolerate any kind of attack on the migrants,” Tejashwi said .

The deputy CM wondered why the Central government was keeping silent on the matter. “We have done what we could. But the BJP, which is in the opposition in Bihar, but rules the Centre, needs to be questioned. The Union government has, so far, shown a lack of concern though this matter involves two states”, Tejashwi said.

However, the leader of opposition remained firm on his stand over the attacks on Hindi-speaking people in Tamil Nadu and sought an inquiry into the claims of the family of a few migrant labourers from Jamui district, whose bodies were brought to their native places in Bihar.

“One Pankaj Yadav, a native of Dhadaul area of Sinkandara was killed, while another worker of ward number 12 of Sikandara was found hanging in Tirupur district a few days ago. The police shall investigate the deaths of these people, besides the one, hailing from Vaishali, allegedly falling prey to violence in TN,” said Vijay Kumar Sinha.

The team of officials sent by the Jharkhand government, who are in Tamil Nadu to ascertain the veracity of the alleged attack on Hindi-speaking people, too did not find any conclusive reports of the violence. “Our teams are there in TN and are meeting with different sections of migrant workers from Jharkhand,” said Vinay Kumar Choubey, secretary to the Jharkhand CM.

A senior Congress leader Kishore Kumar Jha claimed that BJP was raking up fake reports about violence on the Hindi-speaking people vociferously in Bihar and Jharkhand, where they are out of power, to create north-south division and further consolidate votes on religious lines in the Hindi heartland. “They are sowing the seed of hatred in the name of north-south, as they have realised that the BJP has lost its ground in the south and hence is trying to spoil the chance of opposition’s unity ahead of 2024 polls,” Jha said.

.