The Bihar government will set up Labour Service Facilitation Centres in Chennai, Coimbatore and Tiruppur within the next two months to help migrant workers access grievance redressal, welfare schemes, workplace rights and social security support, according to a report by the Times of India.
The centres, called Shram Seva Suvidha Kendra, are being established by Bihar’s Labour Resource and Migrant Workers Welfare department as the state seeks to build a database of residents who leave for employment in other states and countries. K Senthil Kumar, additional chief secretary of the department, said the initiative was intended to understand the movement and livelihood conditions of migrant workers and support them through government programmes.
“We have more than 3 crore Biharis going out to work interstate and internationally across various industries. So, the idea of the centre is to create a database on how many workers leave the state for work to help them with their livelihoods in every possible way,” Kumar was quoted as saying.
The department plans to provide support on language and cultural orientation, workplace-related problems, social security schemes, education for workers’ children, health insurance, accident compensation and death compensation. The centres will also help workers access government schemes for which they may be eligible.
Tamil Nadu has been identified as one of the main locations for the initiative because of the concentration of workers from Bihar in its industrial and employment hubs. The department has selected Chennai, Coimbatore and Tiruppur, which it described as hotspots for migrant workers. Kumar said close to 2-3 lakh Biharis were working in Tiruppur.
The proposed centres are part of a wider plan to establish 12 such facilities across India. The Bihar department has already begun the initiative in Karnataka and has conducted or initiated an extensive survey across 12 states, including Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Delhi-NCR, Kerala, Punjab and Maharashtra. The survey is intended to record workers’ socio-economic conditions and identify the government schemes most suitable for them.
The move places a state government’s migrant-worker administration alongside the labour systems of the destination states. For workers, the centres are expected to provide a local point of contact in cities where language differences, unfamiliarity with public services and distance from their home administration can make it difficult to report workplace problems or claim benefits.
The announcement also reflects the scale of interstate labour movement from Bihar. The department said it was working to create more employment opportunities within the state, including through the proposed establishment of a cement factory and a sugar factory. The immediate plan in Tamil Nadu, however, is focused on documentation, facilitation and welfare access for workers already living and working there.
The centres in Chennai, Coimbatore and Tiruppur are expected to be established within two months, while the broader survey and rollout of 12 facilities will continue across the identified states.
