NGO claims the project has helped bring down substance abuse and internal conflicts within camps
NGO claims the project has helped bring down substance abuse and internal conflicts within camps
Kismat (Kerala Inter-state Migrants Alliance for Transformation), an NGO for the welfare of migrants, has developed 56 Kismat villages in migrant labour camps across the State for keeping track of movements of migrant workers and report their potential criminal actions with enforcement agencies.
There are four to five Kismat villages in each district. It ensures that ID documents of labour camp inmates are collected and shared with the Police department, while the inmates are also assured of jobs. Kismat is a migrant welfare project of BREADS Bengaluru which is run by Don Bosco (DB) Veedu Society, Thiruvananthapuram.
Migrant labour camps with 40 or more residents are treated as a Kismat village with a leader in each camp as a point of contact. Migrants with basic writing and reading skills are chosen as leaders since they are supposed to maintain the register of migrant workers complete with their ID documents and keep an eye on their movements away from the camp and their potential involvement in criminal activities like sale, use, and possession of drugs.
“Leaders remain in constant contact with the coordinators concerned of our 12 help desks and have proved to be a point of contact for enforcement agencies in migrant labour camps. We have been receiving information about migrant workers, especially newcomers among them, being forced into drug peddling by natives who also forcibly take away their valuables. We pass on such information received through leaders to enforcement agencies,” said Sandhya Ramakrishnan, State Coordinator, Kismat.
A meeting organised under Kismat village.
She claimed that Kismat villages had helped bring down substance abuse and internal conflicts within migrant labour camps. Realising that migrants are more prone to substance abuse and resultant violence mostly during Sundays, Kismat organises awareness or cultural programmes to keep them engaged on those days.
“Kismat villages formed across Kerala is playing a very pivotal role in our intervention towards inter-State migrants. It has emerged as a platform for interactive sessions, awareness programmes, medical camp, training sessions, and introducing new schemes,” said Father Saji Elamblaseeril, DB Veedu director.
A committee comprising representatives of local bodies and labour, police, and excise departments has also been formed to work closely with KISMAT villages. Besides holding regular meetings once in every three months, the committee also frequently meets house owners renting space to migrants and migrant agents who bring migrant workers to worksites here on commission basis. Migrants living with families separately but are within a 2-km radius of labour camps are also brought under the ambit of Kismat villages.
“We have also organised skill and leadership training besides lifestyle education for 30 select migrants as part of Kismat village. Besides, we are also setting up migrant welfare committees at the panchayat level for reaching out to the migrant community,” said Ms. Ramakrishnan.
