File image of Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal.
File image of Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal.

Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Sunday held a meeting at Brahmaputra State Guest House to discuss the issues of providing employment opportunities to the state’s people returning from outside.

During the meeting, chief minister Sonowal directed the P&RD department to allot job cards to returning migrant workers and provide them works under MGNREGA at the earliest.

The chief minister also directed the Skill Development department to take steps for imparting training to returning workers for upgrading their skills.

He issued instruction to identify skills of the returning labourers and provide training at development block level through a digital platform.

The chief minister directed the Industries department to prepare district wise list of MSMEs for providing benefits to the sector under Rs 20 lakh crore economic package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He instructed the Finance department to discuss with the banks about ways to provide bank loans to returning labourers for engaging them in productive sectors.

Industries and Commerce minister Chandra Mohan Patowary and P&RD minister Naba Kumar Doley were present in the meeting.

A large number of people including migrant workers who had been working in various states outside the Northeast have started coming back to Assam due to the ongoing lockdown in view of COVID19 pandemic.

Keeping in view of the crisis situation arising out of the pandemic, many workers are unlikely to go back to the states which have been badly affected by COVID19.