Industries in Odisha are facing shortage of manpower as labourers continue to migrate: OSSIA

Bhubaneswar, May 8 (KNN) The MSME industries in Odisha are facing acute shortage of manpower to run their units, Himanshu Shekhar Mishra, Vice President of the Orissa Small Scale Industry association said talking to KNN.

Mishra elaborated on the gravity of the problem. He said that there is a lot of migration happening in the state because of which the industry particularly MSMEs in the recent times are facing a lot of problems.  

He further informed that migration alone is not the cause for the prevailing shortage. Other prime problem in the state is the distribution of ‘freebies’ by the government.

“The government is distributing rice at one rupee per kg cost to the labour and working class, the workers say that when they are getting food to eat, why should they work,” added Mishra. He said that the government giving free rice and grains to the people is not with the intention of welfare but for securing vote bank, this has killed the spirit to work and earn in the state and is going to have drastic impact in the long run.

Mishra also commented upon the MNREGA scheme of the government. He said that under the scheme the government assures certain wages to the workers as soon as they get the job card, workers are misusing this scheme  which is further harming the availability of workforce for the industry.

Suggesting alternatives, he said that instead of giving freebies the government must encourage them to ‘work and earn’ and contribute positively to the economic growth of the state and the country.

Recently the Odisha government has launched a research project to look into the problem of ‘distress migration” of labourers in the state. Under the project there will be door to door survey in several districts and data will be studied to determine the prime reasons behind the problem. Also National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) Hyderabad did similar study on the migrant labourers of Bolangir, Nuapada, Bargarh, Kalahandi and Subranapur districts and has forwarded suggestions to tackle the problem. (KNN/ DA)