Covid-19: Migrant workers in Bihar quarantine centres leave for home

Covid-19: State government officials too are heaving a sigh of relief as the fortnight-long quarantine of many migrants such as Mukhiya, who trekked hundreds of kilometres to reach Bihar after the nationwide lockdown was announced last month, is coming to an end.

Patna

Women walk with bags of food materials on their head through the deserted roads of Patna, on Saturday, 18 April 2020. (ANI)

Birendra Mukhiya, a resident of Bairiya in West Champaran district, heaved a sigh of relief when his 14-day quarantine at Rajkiya Madhya Vidhyalay, one of many quarantine camps across Bihar, ended last week.

Mukhiya, 25, was sent to the quarantine centre on March 27 after walking about 150 km from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, where he worked. The experience, he said, was like being ostracised. “But such thoughts were short-lived after I found myself in the company of many others,” he said.

State government officials too are heaving a sigh of relief as the fortnight-long quarantine of many migrants such as Mukhiya, who trekked hundreds of kilometres to reach Bihar after the nationwide lockdown was announced last month, is coming to an end.

Principal secretary (disaster management) Pratyaya Amrit said, “As of now, only 9,200 people are left in the 3,200-odd camps. A few days back, there were 50,000 people in those camps.

According to people familiar with developments, more than 180,000 people returned to Bihar after the lockdown began on March 25. Chief minister Nitish Kumar directed officials to set up relief camps in districts along Bihar’s boundary to receive thousands of migrants and to allow them to go home only after the mandatory 14-day quarantine.

The Bihar government, to help migrant workers stranded in other states because of the lockdown, has so far released cash support of Rs 1,000 each to 103,579 workers from the CM’s Relief Fund.

With the release of Rs 10.36 crore as “direct benefit transfer” (DBT) into the bank accounts of the workers, Bihar became the first state to help its migrant workforce.

Authorities in Bihar received calls for help from 284,674 people in different states and began screening their applications for financial aid after the chief minister decided to help them.

Of the total applications received so far, only 103,579 were found to be in order for DBT transfers. The calls for help were collated and a link was sent to those seeking help for sending their applications with their personal and bank details.

The maximum number of requests came from Delhi (55,264), Haryana (41,050), Maharashtra (30,576), Gujarat (25,636), and Uttar Pradesh (23,832), and there were also requests from far-off places such as Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Puducherry.

The Bihar government also provided cash assistance of Rs 1000 to 95 lakh ration card holders.

However, the process of dealing with the returning migrant workers wasn’t without glitches, the people said. At several places, the workers slipped away from quarantine centres at night to join their families and returned during the day for free meals, they said.

Mukhiya said: “It took me some time to understand the importance of quarantine. But in the early stages, the going was difficult and I didn’t take to the idea of others from my village to stay in quarantine charitably.”