Job fraud wing in Kanyakumari to protect workers going abroad

Madurai: The Kanyakumari district police have started a special wing for job frauds to protect workers who migrate to foreign countries in search of jobs.
Superintendent of police, Kanyakumari, G Dharmarajan said over 100 cases of job fraud had been registered in police stations in the district in the past three months. Fraudulent agents dupe innocent villagers with promises of good salaries abroad after taking big sums from them.
On many occasions, the worker lands up in a foreign country only to find that he has no job or that he is on a tourist visa. The SP says the agents hand over the tickets and passports to the workers only when they are about to board the flights to their destinations. The police receives many complaints, including non-payment of salaries.
Special numbers have been allotted to the special wing to address the grievances of the affected people. People can call up 04652220657, or the sub inspector in charge of the wing Ramesh Mohan on 9498192414 or 9486215732. A special wing has been constituted to check on the travel agents in the district and find out if they are duly registered agents for recruiting people for jobs abroad. People have been asked to check with this wing before making payments to the agents.
State co-ordinator of the National Domestic Workers Movement S R Valarmathy, who also works with migrant workers, says Kanyakumari has a large number of workers who migrate abroad in search of employment. The reasons for this include meeting the cost of education and for constructing houses; besides a man working abroad is considered to have better prospects in the marriage market, as there is a higher sex ratio in this district. Kanyakumari also has a 92 per cent literacy rate.
The organisation also deals with migrant workers whose number is increasing every year. They had 53 cases in 2015 and 72 in 2014. Each case may have a group of complainants because they usually get affected in groups. Quite a few households in this district have at least one member working abroad. Many of them are taken abroad on tourist visas, which the agents fail to renew; the workers, many of them women, end up losing their salaries and returning home empty handed.
After the tsumani, several fishermen lost their livelihood and they began to take up jobs as drivers, construction workers and fishermen in the middle east and to work in hotels in Malaysia.
There is no proper data on these workers as most of them migrate through different ports. They seek help only when they realise they have been cheated. Valarmathy says migrant workers are increasing every year, as corruption and other factors make it difficult for them to find jobs within the country. But they do not have any social security. The Centre is yet to ratify the UN convention of 1990 on protection of migrant workers and their families. What Tamil Nadu needs now and what they are also stressing is a separate ministry to deal with migrant workers.