Kannadigas top list of workers heading home from Goa

Kannadigas top the list of migrant workers who want to head back home from Goa, after central government guidelines last week allowed transport of stranded workforce across state borders, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Sunday.

Sawant, however, urged all migrant workers to stay back in Goa, stating that economic activity as well as large scale maintenance works in the state had resumed and the state needed the services of the migrant labour force.

"As of now, 71,000 migrant labourers have registered for going back to their home states through various government offices. Out of that 18,000 are from Karnataka, 17,000 are from Uttar Pradesh and 11,000 from Bihar," Sawant told a press conference on Sunday.

The chief minister said that the state administration was in the process of dialogue with the Indian Railways to facilitate the transportation of migrant workers back to their respective states.

"We will be arranging for the trains, which will leave from one station in Goa to one identified station in the destination state," Sawant said.

Sawant also made an appeal to the migrant labour force to stay back in Goa, saying their availability was essential to completion of government maintenance works as well as construction, sewerage and other activities.

"We need the labour force. Contractors should convince migrant labourers to stay back. If the labour force leaves, we will be in a big problem," Sawant said.