Yogi reverses decision on permission for hiring migrant workers

Under attack from his political rivals for his remarks that henceforth, the states wanting to hire labourers from UP would need to obtain the permission of the state government, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday made a u-turn and dropped the requirement.

An official spokesman here said that the government had decided not to incorporate the clause from the yet to be constituted 'migrant commission', that would have made ''prior permission'' of the UP government essential before hiring of the migrant workers by other states.

Although the spokesman said that the chief minister's remarks had reflected his concern for the alleged ''ill treatment'' of the migrant workers by other states amid the coronavirus pandemic as a 'guardian', sources said that the decision was reversed after widespread criticism by the opposition parties and apprehensions that it might not stand judicial scrutiny.

''Many states from where the migrant workers returned did not treat them well...they were not provided adequate facilities by the state governments,'' the spokesman said.

Adityanath had on Sunday said that the migrant workers could not now be hired by other states without permission.

Former Congress president and party MP Rahul Gandhi had slammed the chief minister over his remarks and said that the migrant workers are not his (Adityanath) ''personal property''.

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav had said that the remark was nothing more than a ''political gimmick'' aimed at hiding the failure of the state government in handling the migrant workers' crisis.