Kolkata, Aug 1
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's livelihood promise to Bengali migrant workers returning from BJP-ruled states seems to have left the state administration in a fix.
Sources in the state secretariat envision too many hurdles in implementing the Chief Minister's job and livelihood assurance if Bengali migrant workers start returning to the state in large numbers in response to her call.
The first hurdle is the non-availability of any authentic database on the exact number of migrant workers from West Bengal, as well as any figure on their state-wise distribution.
"Secondly, there is no authentic data on how many of them are floating workers and how many are permanent migrant workers. Separate data on the numbers of skilled and unskilled migrant workers from West Bengal are also not available. At the same time, there is no estimation, even approximate, on sector-wise distribution of engagement of these migrant workers from West Bengal," pointed out an official from the state Planning, Statistics and Programme Monitoring Department, who refused to be named.
Floating workers are those who stay at their native places in West Bengal for a major part of the year and periodically move to other states for a set time to earn a living.