Nandurbar district administration has launched a migration control cell and helpline to help drought-affected workers find employment in their home villages and reduce seasonal migration to other districts and states. The initiative covers all six tehsils of the district and also includes support for families who migrate despite the availability of local work.
Called the ‘Mool Waas Sthalantar Niyantran Kaksh’, the control cell will coordinate local employment opportunities under the Employment Guarantee Scheme, including works implemented through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and the Viksit Bharat Rozgar and Adivika Guarantee Abhiyan (VB-GRAMG). The district administration said the objective is to ensure that rural workers can access timely employment without leaving their villages because of drought-related distress.
District collector Mitali Sethi said the cell was established in response to drought conditions across Akkalkuwa, Shahada, Nandurbar, Navapur, Taloda and Akrani. The administration is accelerating infrastructure and environmental development works under the employment programmes to create jobs locally, she said.
Residents can contact the dedicated helpline at 02564-299544 to register demands for immediate work, report a lack of employment opportunities, obtain information about ongoing projects and seek help with job card or technical issues. The administration is also using the MGNREGA Management Information System to monitor employment generation daily across all gram panchayats.
The control cell will also track the welfare needs of workers who migrate even when local employment is available. It has established communication channels and prepared directories of field supervisors and health officials in major migration destinations, including Surat in Gujarat. These arrangements are intended to help migrant families, particularly pregnant women and children, continue receiving healthcare, immunisation and nutritional support after leaving Nandurbar.
Sethi said Nandurbar had traditionally been a source district for migrant labour, while also receiving migrant workers from Beed and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar districts. To monitor maternal and child health, nutrition and welfare services for these families, the administration has started mini-anganwadi centres. The control cell’s next steps will focus on registering work demands, monitoring employment generation through the MGNREGA system and maintaining support links with migrant families at destination locations.
