A staff of Adhikar, an NGO, gives money to a man whose relative works in Surat. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, March 19: Sitting approximately 1,500km from Bhubaneswar in Surat (Gujarat) some 6 lakh Oriya migrant workers share a common concern — finding a safe way to send their hard-earned money home.

In matters of employment, Surat has welcomed Oriya workers with open arms, as is evident from the conservative estimate of the Rs 2,000-crore that is remitted annually from Gujarat to Orissa.

But certain lacunas, such as absence of identity proof and bank accounts, postal delays and careless friends plague workers, as any one of them wishing to send money home — safely and quickly — would admit.

Keeping such a milieu in mind, Adhikar, an Orissa voluntary organisation began a project titled Shramik Sahajog in 2003 to help migrant workers in Surat send money back to 200-odd villages in Orissa.

Adhikar is an Oriya initiative for Oriya workers and has 15 staff working in Orissa and 15 in Surat.

The Surat volunteers collect the pay from the workers and deposit the money in banks which in turn is transferred to Orissa branches where volunteers collect them and deliver.

“Money sent and received on time has saved a life or a marriage,” admitted Md Amin, the president of Adhikar.

“We went to Gujarat after the 2001 earthquake for relief work. There we spoke to Oriya migrant workers who admitted that transferring money was a problem. It was then that we hit upon the idea. At first, it was difficult for us to gain workers’ trust. Now, we have plans to expand to other parts of the country,” said a volunteer, Sagarika, working for the Shramik Sahajog that has 30 staff.

At present, area of operation includes Ranpur, Tangi, Nirakarpur, Khurda and Puri. Plans are on to expand network to more districts.

“Now, we carry out transactions worth Rs 70 lakh a month, at a nominal interest of 3 per cent,” added Amin.

Amin stresses that banks and financial institutions should enter into this unorganised sector and save the state from the losses.

“Banking institutions ideally should provide this service. The policymakers don’t seem to notice the Rs 2,000-crore that is sent back to Orissa per annum by variety of unrecorded means and the fact that the revenue does not come to the state exchequer.

A lot of money can be mobilised through policy initiatives. Apart from this, policy intervention is required in providing job security to migrant workers,” Amin added.

Usually, the mode of transferring money back “home” is through the postal department with the help of a money order, or through banks and finally through friends and relatives visiting home.