Over 7,500 migrant workers registered in Kangra district

After an uproar over the influx of migrants in the state, the Kangra administration has registered 7,565 workers in the district.

Maximum number of migrants has been registered in the Palampur region.

Sources told The Tribune that 80 migrant workers had been registered in the Bir police station so far, 602 in Dharamsala, 337 in Shahpur, 933 in Kangra, 649 in Bhavarna, 175 in Nagrota Bagwan, 1,098 in Palampur, 459 in Lambagaon, 1,691 in Baijnath, 614 in McLeodganj, 493 in Panchrukhi and 434 migrants were registered in the Gaggal police station.

The registered migrants include 725 from J&K, 3,135 from Uttar Pradesh, 1,353 from Bihar, 132 from Nepal, 402 from Jharkhand and 1,818 from other states.

The registered migrants generally work as construction labourers.

The police had issued instructions to migrant workers living in the district to get themselves registered.

The sources here said most of the migrant workers were working for local or other contractors.

The migrants were also working as rag pickers or vendors at some places.

During a recent protest in Dharamsala, traders had demanded that “unauthorised” migrants living in the state should not be allowed to work as street vendors. The traders were of the view that the migrants working as vendors were eating into the business of locals.

Many people had also linked increasing incidents of theft in the district to rise in the number of migrants.

Though it was mandatory for the contractors to get police verification of migratory labourers working for them done, the procedure was not followed generally.

After an uproar across the state following the Sanjauli mosque case the police had issued instructions to all migrant workers to register themselves at the nearest police stations.