Kerala police to come up with Strangers Identification Register

The Kerala Police, in a unique attempt, will compile a Strangers’ Identification Register, a digitised data bank on migrant labourers in the state.

“The initiative will begin within a couple of months. The register aims at keeping a tab on the activities of the workers from other states and could also be used for their safety and welfare,” DGP Jacob Punnoose told Express.

Claimed to be the first-of-its-kind in the country, the register will make a qualitative impact on the life of around one million migrant labourers in the state. The initiative gains relevance in the backdrop of the repercussions following the recent incidents of violence in North East.

“It is true that the primary intention is to collect the data about the labourers from other states. But it is not confined to that only. In the Strangers Identification Register, the details about all the strangers in an area would be uploaded. Apart from the other details, mobile phone numbers will also be uploaded, so that any incident or information relevant to them can be communicated directly,” the DGP said.

The government has approved the project, the cost of which is estimated to be Rs 50 lakh. The initiative will be launched once the Finance Department gives it approval. The sub-inspectors of all the police stations in the state have been assigned the task of uploading the data. Once the data of a person is uploaded by a sub-inspector, it can be viewed by a SI of any other police station in the state.

“The main problem in keeping the data about the migrant labourers is that if they are at Perumbavaoor for a day, the next day they would be somewhere in Thiruvananthapuram. But once the digitalisation process is complete that problem will be addressed as the the sub-inspectors can access the data uploaded,” the DGP said.

The lack of primary information such as proper address about the labourers pose serious problems especially when accidents or deaths happen at the construction sites. The employers have also been asked to keep the data of the workers, which would also help the digitalisation process. The initiative is expected to check the criminal activities at the construction sites. Earlier the police and the Labour Department had started collecting data, but they were not progressed beyond the initial stage.