Caritas Goa has urged the Government to recognize the contribution of migrants as citizens of the country and provide their due rights by initiating policy formulation for their welfare.

Fr. Maverick, the Director of Caritas Goa has made this appeal to the representatives from the various government departments, NGOs, students, advocates, migrant workers and like-minded people gathered in and consultation to share their views to assist in creating an effective policy.

The consultation was hosted by Caritas Goa on July 20, 2022, under Caritas India’s Pravasi Bandhu program. Fr. Maverick praised the efforts of various departments and non-governmental organisations for supporting the migrant community during the time of the pandemic. The consultation followed the presentation of the national scenario and project progress of the project by Suparna Ash, Associate – Data Analyst and Feliza, outreach worker of the Pravasi Bandhu program respectively.

Mr.Darshan, the civil supplies inspector shared about the rations delivered in Goa under the ‘One Nation One Ration’ Scheme. He also mentioned the Aadhar Seeding process and its necessity in availing the benefit under each state. He informed that if someone has issues regarding getting the benefit then they can contact the inspector of the closest Civil Supplies office.

Informing about the National Health Card, Dr. Himanshu shared that the Insurance Officer at PHCs and UHCs are responsible. He also shared that the sanitary or health inspector can be contacted for the vector-borne disease and the sub-centres can be accessed for medical examinations.

However, Mrs. Vasudha, a researcher at GIM College raised the issue of discrimination at the Government hospital regarding the admission of residents and migrants. She proposed that the policy should address such irregularities by stopping it. She also brought up the variations in X-ray fees at GMS. Fr. Michael complemented and shared an incident where a patient had to pay to secure a bed in the hospital.

Mr. Lourdes Baptista raised the issue of living spaces and the requirement that panchayats produce occupancy certificates. Additionally, he claimed that tenant screening performed at the police station would help to guarantee their safety and suitable accommodation. He also addressed the unregistered workers who live in industrial zones, advocating a database of them on the ground.

Explaining the smart card given to industrial workers, Ms. Namrata Shetye, representing the Goa Electronics Limited implementation engineer, said that online registration is permitted to contractors. She claimed that with guidance from the relevant government departments, all interstate workers can be registered online.

The attendees of the consultation shared their concerns regarding the non-payment of salaries, workplace safety, compensation etc.

Among its recommendation, the consultation proposed for enforcement in gathering necessary data on inter-state workers at different departments like fisheries, labour, civil supplies, police, and health.

Emphasis was given on accepting non-residents and Government institutions should stop discriminating against people while providing medical care. Services must be made available to everyone, including the poor, and patient admission criteria need to be revised.

The consultation strongly proposed establishing registration centres at the municipal and panchayat levels to register interstate workers at their workplaces, factories and industries and made mandatory by the labour department.

Accountability needs to be set for contractors to ensure safety, security and sanitation of the resident workers at the construction sites and the health and labour department needs to ensure the same.

The participants proposed to consider setting up of a builder’s association under the Workmen Act to be made known to them. Under this association responsibility should be given of setting up of Creche facilities, Psychological units, set proper wages for unorganized workers, building attitudinal changes among the locals, allocating legal cells to aid the workers, set-up help desks by the labour department or a helpline number. Similarly, the association be empowered to put heavy penalties on contractors for non-compliance with the laws.