In a notable step, Kanniyakumari District Superintendent of Police (SP) R. Stalin has directed the officials of the Fisheries and Police departments to maintain a database of inter and intra-state migrant workers, employed at fishing harbours in the district to facilitate easier tracking of crimes involving them whether as victims or suspects.

The district has three government fishing harbours located at Chinna Muttom, Colachel and Thengapattinam. Hundreds of inter and intra-State migrants are employed in these harbours as daily wage workers, including some venturing into sea with the fishermen.

However, it has always been a difficult task to identify the background of these migrants, as many of them at the harbours are identified only by the names they provide, without any proper authentication. Apart from crimes, if a boat collides with a ship, leading to injuries or sometimes fatal accidents, fishermen’s associations here struggle to secure compensation for the migrants in absence of proper documents.

As the 61 days fishing ban period along the east coast of the state has ended few days ago, Mr. Stalin has inspected Chinna Muttom harbour and directed the officials to maintain a database of migrant workers. The process will be carried out jointly by the Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare Department and the Police Department.

Valid identity cards of the migrants will be collected for authentication and details will be recorded by the fisheries department. Meanwhile the police department will collect their finger prints. The collected details will be incorporated into a database, which has been directed to be maintained.

An official from the fisheries department said that as most of the migrant workers would be busy on weekdays, the process would be carried out during the weekends.

Meanwhile, the initiative will be extended to Colachel and Thengapattinam fishing harbours after the fishing ban period along the district’s west coast concludes.

Captain Johnson, a resident of Colachel has lauded the initiative of District SP, stating that it is a much-needed effort, as hundreds of migrants from several states depend on these harbours for their livelihood.

He added that in the event any untoward accidents involving them, at the workplace, these authenticated databases play a crucial role facilitating compensation.

Mr. Johnson further sought for identity cards for these migrant workers employed at harbours and venturing into the sea for fishing, stating that this would further strengthen the objective of the initiative.

Mr. Stalin said that the initiative has been undertaken not only to prevent crimes but also to ensure workplace safety of these inter and intra-State migrant workers.