Bihar team satisfied with Tamil Nadu government on safety measures for workers in Tiruppur

PATNA: A high-level team of senior officials from Bihar reached Tamil Nadu on Sunday and held talks with Tiruppur district officials as well as representatives of migrant workers, labor contractors and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to verify incidents of violence. Did. Allegedly, the laborers of Bihar were subjected to crime by the local people over the language division.

The team comprising Rural Development Secretary Balamurugan D, Inspector General (IG), P Kannan, Special Secretary, Labor Resources Department, Alok Kumar, and Superintendent of Police (Crime Investigation Department) Santosh Kumar was taken to Chennai after the Bharatiya Janata Party. (BJP) leaders stalled the proceedings of the ongoing budget session of state legislatures, alleging that locals in Tamil Nadu are attacking migrant workers from Bihar in different parts of the state.

Talking to media persons in Tiruppur, Balamurugan said that the team was in talks with the migrant laborers and is in touch with the labor contractors. He advised people not to pay heed to rumors and fake videos. “The governments of Tamil Nadu and Bihar are making all efforts to ensure the safety of the migrants here,” the official said.

“We are satisfied with the steps taken by the Tamil Nadu government and the district administration to ensure their safety to remove fear from the minds of the employees,” Balamurugan said.

Another official said that all three videos of alleged violence on laborers and Hindi-speaking people being circulated on social media are not of migrant laborers from Bihar.

“The situation is normal. A report of our visit will be submitted to the state government soon,” said the second official.

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

Leaders of the Opposition in the Assembly and the Legislative Council, Vijay Kumar Sinha and Samrat Chowdhary, staged a shutdown at their respective homes on Thursday and Friday, demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over his failure to ensure the safety of migrants in Tamil Nadu. . , He claimed that around a dozen workers from Bihar were killed in Tripura district, which led to a sudden spurt in their journey home to escape ‘brutality’.

When contacted, Chief Secretary Amir Subhani said teams of officers are visiting different parts of the state where violence is suspected to have taken place and compiling details. “I have not received any input from the team. Let them come, we will share the findings,” said the chief secretary.

Quoting a statement issued by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Saturday, a senior official of the Bihar government claimed that the video clip related to the alleged attack on Bihari migrants by the state police was circulated on social media and criticized by a section of the mainstream. was reported. Called the media ‘liar’ and ‘mischievous’.

“A BJP leader and two journalists have been booked for spreading fake messages and planting unauthenticated reports regarding class relations among workers and locals from north India,” the officials said. Contact in case of emergency.

Reacting to the ruckus created by BJP leaders in the state legislature, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Sunday said that the state government is serious about the matter and hence a team has been sent to Tamil Nadu. Tejashwi said, “Both Bihar and Tamil Nadu governments will not tolerate any kind of attack on migrants.”

The Deputy CM expressed surprise that why the central government is keeping silence on this matter. “We have done what we could. But the BJP, which is in opposition in Bihar but rules at the Centre, needs to be questioned. The central government has so far shown a lack of concern, though two States are involved”, Tejashwi said.

The Leader of the Opposition, however, stuck to his stand on the attacks on Hindi-speaking people in Tamil Nadu and demanded a probe into the claims of the families of some migrant laborers in Jamui district whose bodies were brought to their native places. A state in Eastern India.

“One Pankaj Yadav, a native of Dhadoul area of ​​Sikandra, while another worker from ward number 12 of Sikandra was found hanging in Tiruppur district a few days back. Police will investigate the death of these people, besides those belonging to Vaishali, allegedly victims of violence in TN,” said Vijay Kumar Sinha.

A team of officials sent by the Jharkhand government to Tamil Nadu to ascertain the veracity of the alleged attack on Hindi-speaking people also did not receive any conclusive reports of violence. Jharkhand CM’s secretary Vinay Kumar Choubey said, “Our teams are in TN and holding meetings with different sections of migrant workers of Jharkhand.”

Kishore Kumar Jha, a senior Congress leader, claimed that the BJP is peddling fake news about violence on Hindi-speaking people in Bihar and Jharkhand, where they are out of power, to create a north-south divide and divide on religious lines. But to strengthen the votes in the Hindi heartland. Jha said, “They are sowing seeds of hatred in the name of North-South, as they have realized that the BJP has lost ground in the South and are therefore trying to spoil the unity of the opposition ahead of the 2024 elections.” Is.”

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