Ludhiana MC sets up call centre to help out migrants willing to go back home

The centre is making calls to inform the migrants about reaching the pick-up points and boarding the special trains being run to their home states

At a time when migrants are facing trouble reaching the pick-up points and boarding the special trains being run to their home states, the municipal corporation (MC) has set up a call centre to make calls to the migrants, whose names are cleared by the district administration for travelling in trains.

MC is also tasked with picking up passengers from various pick up points in Ludhiana and taking them to the railway station after medical screening at the ISBT. (HT File Photo)

The centre is also apprising labourers of the pick-up points from where buses would ferry them to the railway station to avoid confusion.

The centre has been set up at the meeting hall of MC headquarters (Zone A) office near Mata Rani Chowk.

MC commissioner Kanwalpreet Kaur Brar said a team of 70 officials had been deputed at the call centre. She said, “The labourers register themselves on the government portal, www.covidhelp.punjab.gov.in, for moving back to their home states. Once the registration is made and migrants are selected, then calls are made to the shortlisted passengers.”

She said the centre was also informing the administration about the actual number of people willing to travel to their home states. “As industrial activity has commenced in the city, several migrants, who had registered themselves to go back home, have dropped the idea and returned to their jobs,” said Brar.

She said the Punjab government was paying for travel, food, water and pick-up service from designated points. The medical screening of all passengers was being done and a medical certificate was being issued to the labourers before they catch the trains, she added.