Over 25,000 migrants are stuck in 103 camps at 65 locations across districts in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: With no income over the last fortnight, migrant workers are stuck between a rock and a hard place — they neither have shelter nor can they return to their homes in the wake of the nationwide lockdown.
On Tuesday, the government identified 65 locations across 30 districts in the state where such workers are stuck. More than a 100 camps have been set up at these locations to accommodate more than 25,000 workers (see graphic), but the exercise of identifying more such workers is a work in progress.Officials in the know said the number could even cross one lakh.
N Manjunath Prasad, principal secretary (revenue) and the nodal officer for migrants, has instructed all DCs to “register each migrant who requires board and lodging and also collect data on number of family members, name and destination where they intend to go”. This data was used to group them in the same location. All camps have been provided with medical assistance.
So far, 25,433 migrants have been identified. Of these, more than 14,000 are in Bengaluru’s Mahadevapura zone. BBMP commissioner BH Anil Kumar said there could be more than 60,000 migrant workers in BBMP limits and Bengaluru rural. “...According to the labour department, there are at least 67,000 in BBMP and rural limits. But we are trying to do an on-ground assessment and we should have the accurate number soon. We’ve already identified 200 choultries for this,” he said.
BBMP special commissioner D Randeep said five community halls in Mahadevapura have been requested, but so far no worker has been placed there. “As of today, we have identified people and are supplying food packets to them. So far there appears to be no problem with shelter for them as they are living in their respective labour quarters or makeshift places they already use,” he said.
22L construction workers
Although the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) has said all migrant workers must remain in their present locations and the state government must provide food and shelter, there could be lakhs of people who are outside the ambit. While there is no requirement for states to register inter-state migrant workers, identification of such people during a crisis is a difficult task.
Labour secretary P Manivannan told TOI: “There are about 22 lakh construction workers registered with us (across Karnataka), most of who are migrants. About five lakh of them have provided details of their work so as to avail benefits from us.”
While construction workers register with the government, most other migrants — such as those employed in the hospitality sector or working as security guards, do not register with the government.
One estimate suggests Bengaluru alone has nearly 80,000 security guards from other states, while 40% of the 1.4 lakh people working in the 7,000-odd licenced hotels and restaurants are also from other states.
Census data suggests at least four out of 10 people in Bengaluru have registered their mother tongues as other than Kannada. It’s about 18% across Karnataka. However, a majority of non-Kannada speakers are those who’ve settled here many years ago, which makes it difficult to ascertain if they are migrants or settlers.