Father Pauria Joseph, Salesian Provincial of Kolkata, inaugurated the National Migrant Workshop. Father Sunil Rosario, Regional Secretary of the Commission for Migration CCBI ( Conference of Catholic Bishops of India), Kolkata, and Father Kerketta Sunil, Vice-provincial of Kolkata Province, were the key speakers at the inaugural function. The delegates were welcomed in the Bengali cultural traditions.

The two-day Migrant Workshop had Anuradha Talawal, Social Activist, speak on the theme, “Challenges faced by the Migrants & Unorganized workers in India”, and Divya Varma on “Occupational Health, Safety and Social Securities for the Migrants”. The Helpline services were addressed by Indian Labour Line, MAIN( Migrant Assistance & Information Network and DB4M Labor Line. Father Saji Elambassery from Bangalore Province, Father Ratna of Hyderabad Province and Father Simolin from Chennai Province presented the Status Paper of Migrants in Kerala, Andhra and Tamilnadu.

The other sessions concentrated on the sharing of the Migrant Desks activities and plans. The workshop concluded with a Way Forward action plan to optimise the migrant strategies on strengthening logistics, upgrading service delivery, capacity building, updated training modules, networking, legal mediation and policy advocacy.

The Provincial, Economer, Bro. Lawrance and Father Cheriatt, of Kolkata Province, steered the workshop on migrants.