Raiganj, Aug. 11: The North Dinajpur district health authorities have asked the labour department to monitor the places from where migrant workers had gone outside the state to control the spread of transmittable diseases.

The deputy chief medical officer of health, Deepak Bhowmick, said there was a cause of concern over the increase in the incidence of infectious diseases.

“Labourers from here travel to places where they are prone to diseases such as malaria, kala-azar and AIDS. We have asked the labour department to keep a tab on their movement so that we can monitor their health as soon as they re-enter the district in order to check the spread of these diseases,” Bhowmick said.

He said as there was no feedback from the labour department, it was very difficult to prevent any outbreak.

Assistant labour commissioner, Bitan Dey, said a large number of labourers went to other states looking for work. “Under the inter-state migrant labour laws, the labour contractors have to inform the officials concerned in both the states about the workers’ travel. But this law is implemented very loosely and as the workers travel on their own, it is difficult for us to keep a check,” Dey said.