States put migrant workers through misery despite Rs 50,000 cr welfare kitty

_{New Delhi: The guest workers had to face starvation and were even forced to cover long distances by foot despite the state governments in the country sitting on over Rs 50,000 crore that belongs to the labourers.}

_{The state governments cumulatively have a fund of Rs 52,000 crore that they collected as cess from guest workers. Yet, the states pushed the labourers to distress and made them to fend for themselves when they lost jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.}

_{Kerala is the only state among the 29 in the country that has spent more than the cess amount collected for the welfare of guest workers during the crisis.}

_{Till last year, Kerala had collected 1,942 crore as cess, but it spent Rs 2,341 crore to help the labourers. Kerala had announced an aid of Rs1,000 per month for the labourers registered with it during the lockdown.}

_{It is estimated that Kerala’s cess fund has Rs 946 crore.}

_{The are 3.90 crore registered workers in the country from whom a building and construction cess is levied. The cess goes to the welfare boards of the respective state governments.}

_{There are many states that announced bigger aid than Kerala for the migrant labourers. Delhi has been giving Rs5,000 to each worker. Punjab has been giving Rs 3000 to each worker and Himachal Pradesh has been providing Rs 2,000. Andhra Pradesh has been giving Rs 1,000.}

_{Last year, the Union Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar had announced that the cess fund had Rs 49,674 crore, while only 19,379 crore (37%) had been spent.}

_{He had asked all chief ministers to utilise this amount properly.}

_{The cess fund and the amount spent}

_{The amount spent from state cess fund is given in brackets}

_{Bengal: Rs 1,475 crore  (Rs 530 crore)}

_{Uttar Pradesh: Rs 2943 crore (Rs 598 crore)}

_{Tamil Nadu: Rs 1706 crore (Rs 600 crore)}

_{Andhra Pradesh: Rs 2375 crore (Rs 519 crore)}

_{Assam: Rs 875 crore (Rs 189 crore)}

_{Bihar: Rs 1,608 crore (Rs 229 crore)}

_{Chhattisgarh: Rs 1,134 crore (Rs 949 crore)}

_{Gujarat: Rs 2,098 crore (Rs 197 crore)}

_{Haryana: Rs 2,463 crore (Rs 606 crore)}

_{Karnataka: Rs 5,071 crore (Rs 4,520 crore)}

_{Madhya Pradesh: Rs 2,706 crore (Rs 1,455 crore)}

_{Maharashtra: Rs 7,401 crore (Rs 403 crore)}

_{Odisha: Rs 1,831 crore (Rs 1,418 crore)}

_{Jharkhand: Rs 445 crore (Rs 237 crore)}

_{Goa: Rs 147 crore (Rs 1 crore)}

_{Jammu Kashmir: Rs 712 crore (Rs 302 crore)}

_{Manipur: Rs 89 crore (Rs 74 crore)}

_{Mizoram: Rs 85 crore (Rs 40 crore)}

_{Meghalaya: Rs 13  crore (Rs 3 crore)}

_{Nagaland: Rs 43 crore ( Rs 13 crore)}