Two days after Uttar Pradesh government declared that states must seek permission to hire its migrants, chief minister Yogi Adityanath has now taken a U-turn.

While addressing a webinar on Sunday, Yogi Adityanath had said, “Other states will also need to seek permission from his government before engaging workers from UP”.

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“If any state wants manpower, the state government will have to guarantee social security and insurance of the workers. Without our permission they will not be able to take our people,” he stated.

The issue sparked a major controversy and an official spokesman has now said that the government would not include this clause of ‘prior permission’ in the bye-laws of the Migration Commission.

The government spokesman also said it was working on modalities to set up the commission to provide jobs and social security to migrant workers returning to the state. It has named the migration commission as the “Shramik Kalyan Aayog (Workers welfare commission).

About 26 lakh migrants have already returned to the state and an exercise to map their skills is being carried out to help them get jobs.

In a two-pronged strategy to secure migrants, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to set up a Migration Commission for the employment of such labourers in the state.

Meanwhile, Yogi Adityanath has discussed the modalities for setting up the commission and told his officers to complete the skill mapping exercise in 15 days.

A senior official of Team 11, said, “The chief minister discussed the modalities for setting up the commission, as well. There will be no provision requiring other states to seek UP government’s prior permission for employing our manpower. The commission is being set up to provide jobs and social security to the workers. We will also link the migrants to the government schemes to provide them houses and loans etc.”

Yogi Adityanath said a letter should be sent to all state governments to find out about migrant workers wanting to come back to Uttar Pradesh.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi had sharply criticized Adityanath’s stand, saying the workers were not the chief minister’s personal property.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray also hit at Yogi Adityanath, saying labourers will have to seek nod of the Maharashtra government if they wish to work here.

Legal experts have also opined that requiring government permission for employing people could face a legal challenge as the Constitution guarantees the freedom of movement and residence and employment of workers.