Coronavirus: Centre delivers sharp warning to states after migrant exodus, says will hold officials responsible

Coronavirus updates: People who travelled during the lockdown will have to spend 14 days in state government-run quarantine facilities, the Centre has ordered

The Union government on Sunday firmly reminded state governments that the onus to ensure that their boundaries are sealed was theirs and they should not allow the migrant workforce to cross borders and break the protocol for the nationwide lockdown across the country.

Covid-19: The Centre has ordered all private firms to pay wages to their casual workers without any deductions so that migrant workers are not left struggling to make ends meet (Biplov Bhuyan/HT PHOTO)

The Centre also decided to isolate the tens of thousands of people who travelled during the lockdown imposed from Tuesday midnight and place them in state-run government quarantine facilities for the next 14 days.

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The Centre’s efforts to stop the coronavirus disease from spreading, which appeared to be blindsided by the heavy rush of migrant workforce wanting to reach home on foot, has now made it incumbent on the local administration and the states to ensure wages and food for them at their place of residence.

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Thousands of people, men, women and children have been making their way home on foot across several states, despite government orders to stay indoors to break the chain of coronavirus spread.

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Following an uproar over the humanitarian crisis that has emerged and led to the death of one worker who was travelling on foot to his hometown in Madhya Pradesh; the Centre has now moved in quickly to halt the movement of people.

Following meetings led by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba and Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla with chief secretaries and state police chiefs on Saturday evening and on Sunday morning, the government reminded states that there were instructions against allowing movement of people across cities or on highways. Only movement of goods will be allowed.

In a statement after the meetings, the Centre warned state officials that District Magistrates and Superintendents of Police will now be held “personally responsible” for implementation of the directions under the Disaster Management Act.

To meet the financial and food security needs of this large workforce, states have been asked to make “adequate arrangements for food and shelter of poor and needy people including migrant labourers at the place of their work.”

States have also been ordered to release wages during the period of the lockdown.

In light of reports that many migrants had cited their inability to pay the rent for their accommodation in and around Delhi for their decision to go back home, the Centre also instructed states to take action against those forcing labourers or students to vacate premises; and not demand house rent from the labourers for the lockdown period.

Yesterday, the Noida administration had issued a similar order to bar landlords from arm twisting their poor tenants to pay the rent or evict them for non-payment.