E-Paper
States move to help migrant workers amid Covid-19 lockdown
Union home secretary has suggested that states and UTs need to explore measures by involving various agencies, including NGOs, to provide basic amenities such as food, clean drinking water and shelter.
Several states have issued orders to support tens of thousands of migrant labourers who are walking hundreds of kilometres to their hometown without food and shelter in the wake of a 21-day nationwide lockdown prompted by the Covid-19 outbreak.
Some states have asked local authorities to arrange transport, and provide shelter and relief for the workers, while the Centre has written to states and Union Territories to provide assistance to agricultural labourers, industrial workers and other unorganised sector workers whose photos, videos and stories have become a defining moment of the lockdown.
In an advisory, the Union home secretary has suggested that states and UTs need to explore measures by involving various agencies, including NGOs, to provide basic amenities such as food, clean drinking water and shelter. There was no mention of transportation arrangements though.
Caught in the middle of the lockdown with no work and no way to travel home, scores of migrant workers have been traversing a long distance to reach their hometown. The countrywide restrictions – announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi — and a complete halt on all public transport, including trains and interstate buses, came into effect on Wednesday.
The state governments of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Punjab have issued directions to local district magistrates to arrange transportation for the migrants.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday announced that his government will coordinate with other states and bear the expenses of migrant workers who are stranded in the state. Kumar also said Rs 100 crore has been released from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund that will be utilised for setting up shelters for daily-wage earners.
The scale of the crisis was evident on Friday, with the Maharashtra police finding more than 300 migrant workers crammed into two container trucks that were carrying essential commodities from Telangana to Rajasthan. Vehicles carrying essential items such as food and medicines are exempt from the lockdown.
According to the 2011 Census, about 13 million of the total 54 million migrants moved to other states for economic reasons such as work, employment or business.
More than half of these 13 million migrated out of just three states – Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan. Also, more than half of the migrants move to just four states – Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat and Karnataka – primarily in search of work in cities such as Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru.
“Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has been coordinating virtually with his counterparts in the country to help out-of-State workers stranded in Maharashtra,” state cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray tweeted on Friday.
Separately, Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee have reached out to the Maharashtra government for help in rescuing migrant workers and devotees.
The unprecedented lockdown – imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease, which has infected over 700 people in India -- has also left thousands of truckers stranded along national highways.
“There are millions of drivers who are stranded with no food or facilities even as the police have not allowed them to assemble in groups. There is anarchy on the roads. The drivers are unable to leave the trucks on the road as they are carrying expensive goods; raw material, finished products to workshops etc, but are unable to unload the goods as even the factories have shut down... The government needs to intervene immediately,” SP Singh, senior fellow at Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training (IFTRT), said.
Several railway employees across stations have also been stranded since all trains were cancelled till April 14. Many have sought help from the Centre to be rescued. Officials at the ministry of railways told HT on condition of anonymity that so far there is no plan to deploy special trains to transport those stranded.
