Tripura to send back 33,000 stranded migrant workers to their native states

According to a letter served by chief secretary Manoj Kumar, the 33,000 migrant workers and their family members, stranded in Tripura are from Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.

The Tripura government decided to send back 33,000 migrant workers to their respective states largely by train with the help of central government.

Migrant workers trying to return to their villages hundreds of miles away walk through a highway during a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of new coronavirus in India. (AP photo)

In order to complete the task, the state government has constituted a four-member team that included of principal secretary SR Kumar, special secretary Deepa D Nair, labour commissioner Tapash Roy and joint transport commissioner Ajit Debnath.

“ Govt of Tripura along with the help of central government have decided to sent back 33,000 migrant workers to their respective states from Tripura largely by train. For orderly transporting the migrant workers to their respective states, we have formed a team consisting of senior officials,” Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb wrote on his Facebook post on Monday.

According to a letter served by chief secretary Manoj Kumar today, the 33,000 migrant workers and their family members, stranded in Tripura are from Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. The state government has already discussed with Union Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Railways, respective state governments about sending the migrant workers to their native places as their work season is over.

In addition, the state government appointed seven higher officials to help in bringing back the Tripura people who are stranded in different parts of the country due to lockdown that was announced to break the chain of Covid-19 transmission.

Additional secretary Vikash Singh was appointed to look after people stranded in Tamil Nadu while secretary Sahadev Das would look after Telangana. Secretaries to the state government Tanusree Debbarma, Soumya Gupta, Kiran Gitte and Apurba Roy would look after Karnataka, Assam, Maharashtra and West Bengal and additional secretary Debananda Reang would be looking after other states, according to the notification served by general administration (personnel & training) on Monday.