Migrant workers refused by Karnataka due to lack of IDs, will send them back soon: Goa CM

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday said that around 60 migrant workers heading back to their homes in Karnataka from Goa were asked to return from the border by the state officials because they were not carrying any identification documents to prove they are a resident of the state. 

'We will attest them & send them across the border'

"They could not produce any Aadhaar card or voter card with a Karnataka address, which is why they were sent back from the border," he told the media persons. 

The migrant workers were being taken from Goa to Karnataka in buses on Thursday. The buses were turned back, after the Karnataka officials insisted on local address proof, forcing the migrant workers to return to Goa.

"All the migrant workers were from the Margao area. We have told them to source and scan ID copies from their native homes. We will attest them and send them across the border," Sawant said. The Chief Minister also said that the first batch of nearly 1000 migrant workers is expected to be transported out of Goa to Uttar Pradesh on Friday.

Congress Spokesman Brijesh Kalappa reacting on the incident had asked for CM Yedirurappa's intervention. "What is happening @BSYBJP? Are you going to intervene? This is a matter concerning the self-respect off Kannadigas and will not be taken lying down," Brijesh Kalappa tweeted.

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More than 80,000 migrant labourers -- a majority of them from Uttar Pradesh -- have registered with the Goa government to go back to their native states, as per the officials. Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had announced earlier that two special trains would be running to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to ferry these labourers.

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On Wednesday, Maharashtra Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik had alleged that BJP-led Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka governments were adopting uncooperative attitude in taking back migrant workers from their states.

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(With agency inputs)