As many as 48.63 lakh workers in the unorganised sector in the national capital may become unemployed due to “faulty implementation of demonetisation” and they have already started going back to their home states, Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken claimed.
A march will be held on December 24 from Jantar Mantar to Parliament House by Delhi Poorvanchal Congress, in association with Delhi Parvatiya Congress and Delhi South Indian Congress, to highlight the plight of migrant labourers due faulty implementation of demonetisation, he said.
“48.63 lakh unorganized/informal workforce in Delhi consist of first-generation migrant labour. After faulty implementation of demonetisation, reverse migration has begun in Delhi,” Maken alleged.
“Lakhs of labourers have already returned to their homes, and around 15,000 labourers are returning to their homes from Delhi every day, which is stalling development works in the national capital,” he claimed.
The Delhi Congress chief said he had written a letter to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on December 9 to draw his attention towards this issue and had asked him to take steps to stop reverse migration of this informal workforce.
Claiming that he has not received any reply from the chief minister, Maken said the Delhi government has not taken any steps to implement his suggestion that Rs 5,000 be given to these labourers as monthly unemployment allowance, which is nearly 50 per cent of minimum wages.
“Major projects in Delhi have come to a standstill as labourers are not getting their daily wages due to the cash crunch. The daily earning of rickshaw pullers have also come down sharply.
“If steps are not taken immediately to stop reverse migration of the informal workforce, it will take a long time for Delhi to come back to its normal routine,” he claimed.
Quoting a survey on employment by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), Maken said as per the 68th Round, between 2011 and 2012, the working population of Delhi was 57.06 lakh.
“The data of Directorate of Employment, Delhi government reveals that the total number of workers in the organised sector was 8.43 lakh in 2009. This figure has remained almost consistent in the last one decade,” he said.
(PTI)
