E-Paper
4,000 enrol in Punjab to go home, 96,000 more expected in 48 hours
The registrations were done online after the state government started the exercise through ‘Cova App’, a central app for all Covid-19 related information and management, to allow them to return to their home states
Around 4,000 stranded persons, mostly migrant workers, registered with the Punjab government on Friday stating they intend to return home.
The registrations were done online after the state government started the exercise through ‘Cova App’, a central app for all covid-19 related information and management, to allow them to return to their home states. “The registration will remain open till May 3 and we expect another 96,000 to register in the next 48 hours,” said a senior officer. Lakhs of migrant labourers have been stranded in different parts of the state without work since the imposition of curfew on March 23.
A large number of migrants in the state are from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. Another 1,000 persons have registered to return to Punjab from other states. Additional chief secretary, home, Satish Chandra also wrote to divisional railway managers (DRMs), Ambala and Ferozepur, on Friday for making arrangements for the movement of stranded persons, stating that over 1 lakh of them are expected to get themselves register by May 3.
“As a pre-emptive measure, adequate arrangements must be made by the railways to create adequate facilities at Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Bathinda railway stations in order to ensure smooth travel,” he wrote, urging them to appoint nodal officers at each of these railway stations to monitor and coordinate the travel arrangements.
“Once the registration is completed, the state government will intimate the exact number of railway stations and place with specific indents for passenger trains on a point-to-point basis. All necessary arrangement to ensure smooth movement of stranded persons, including issuance of medical certificates, security social distancing norms will be made by the district authorities,” Chandra added. Though the railways have also agreed to run special trains to take the stranded migrants, students and others home, the first such train is unlikely to leave the state before May 5.
