The Bengal government will launch a special drive early next month in Delhi to register the names of migrant workers from the state who stay in the national capital.

The decision was taken at a special meeting headed by chief secretary H.K. Dwivedi. The state government had already decided to reach out to migrant workers living in other states in a bid to register them on Karmasathi portal.

An official said a special team headed by the chairman of the West Bengal Migrant Workers’ Welfare Board, Samirul Islam, would be in Delhi for 10 days — from December 8 to 18 — to register migrant workers from Bengal who live in the national capital.

“The result of a 10-day special drive in Bengal from November 1 to 10 yielded a satisfactory result as we could register nearly 8.5 lakh more migrant workers on the Karmasathi portal,” said Islam, who is also a Rajya Sabha member of the Trinamul Congress.

So far, the state government has registered around 22 lakh migrant workers on its portal. However, a section of officials said the number was not satisfactory as around 40 lakh migrant workers had returned from different states to Bengal during the lockdown following the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020.

A senior official said the Bengal government had decided to move to other states to register the names of the migrant workers as it would be tough to reach out to
their families with government benefits during times of crisis.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee constituted the Migrant Workers’ Welfare Board in March after the BJP highlighted poor job options in the state.

The state had announced a slew of schemes for migrant workers, especially for the families whose earning members died while working outside Bengal or the country.