Internal Migrants: Need for Better Laws and their Implementation

A clash broke out between migrants and residents of a housing society in Dhakoli, Sahibzada Ajit Singh nagar, on 24 Sep after residents locked the entry gate to restrict laborers from passing through. The migrants are employed as daily-wage labor by local contractors and stay in temporary jhuggis near the society and often indulge in drunken brawls. Society president Vijender Singh said that they had repeatedly appealed to the contractor to arrange a separate entry for laborers. On that day, the residents wanted to talk to the contractor but were attacked by labor. They did not involve the police because the migrants are sizable in number even inside the society. The same plays out in many fruit and vegetable markets, street trade, around the state where migrants have taken up the cart business which is a matter of concern says Misl Satluj founder Ajaypal Singh Brar. At a meeting on Migrants in Panjab called by Kendri Singh Sabha , Chandigarh, Indian National Congress Member of Parliament from Patiala Dr. Dharamvir Gandhi emphasized the need for documentation of all migrants, their full records. On 27 Sep, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha’s (SKM’s) Panjab unit asked the Panjab government to seriously implement the already existing Punjab Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979. The Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979 is a union government legislation enacted by the Indian Parliament to protect workers who migrate from one state to another for employment, usually through contractors. Panjab formally adopted the law by framing its own Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Punjab) Rules, 1983, which came into effect in April 1983. These rules laid down practical procedures such as registration, licensing, record-keeping, and the duties of contractors and employers within the state. Employers must maintain records such as muster rolls, wage registers and overtime registers, and notify labor authorities of any major change in workforce or contractor details. However, apart from in a few organized industrial sectors, many organizations do not follow this registration process. There is no law that governs migrants who come to the state to do trade without contractors (earlier coverage).