Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said that his government is in touch with other states to act on the Centre’s order to allow interstate movement of migrant workers and students amid the nationwide lockdown to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
“We are in touch with other states regarding the Centre’s order,” Kejriwal wrote on Twitter. “We will plan everything and inform the people in two days. Till then, people must stay at home and follow lockdown orders.”
The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued guidelines to allow states to bring back migrant workers, tourists and students stranded in other places because of the nationwide lockdown. The government, however, said that the stranded people will be allowed to move only after states consult with each other and agree on the movement by road.
The home ministry order directed states to appoint nodal authorities and develop standard protocols for the movement of the stranded people by buses, while observing safety measures. Screening travellers for Covid-19 is mandatory. Local authorities will assess the health of those arriving at their destination and they will also be kept under home quarantine, unless assessment by local authorities requires institutional quarantine.
Kejriwal’s counterparts from Rajasthan and Bihar welcomed the Centre’s decision to allow migrant workers to go home amid the lockdown.
“Long awaited demand of movement of migrant workers has finally been accepted by the government of India,” Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said. Gehlot, however, added that it would be impossible to ensure smooth movement until the government allows trains to operate.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the Centre’s revised guidelines will provide relief to students, tourists, pilgrims and migrant workers from the state who are stranded away from home, according to PTI. Kumar said that he had made a request to allow interstate movement of stranded people during the video-conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. “We had made a request to this effect and we are glad that the Centre has come up with a positive response,” he said according to the news agency.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that his government will launch a web portal for connecting with the people from state who are stranded in different parts of the country, PTI reported.
Struggling to survive amid the lockdown, lakhs of migrant workers had been demanding permission to go back to their hometowns. On Wednesday over 2,000 migrant workers employed at a construction site on the IIT-Hyderabad campus attacked officials and the police, demanding wages and permission to go home.
On Tuesday, workers in Gujarat’s Surat city vandalised the office of a construction site after the contractors allegedly brought in more labourers from other parts of the state to speed up the work. Earlier this month, thousands of migrant workers had gathered in Mumbai’s Bandra suburb to protest, demanding transportation arrangements to go back to their hometowns.
Last week, the Uttar Pradesh government brought back over 12,000 labourers who were stranded in Haryana amid the lockdown. The state government also sent 250 buses to Rajasthan’s Kota city to bring back stranded students. Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Assam have also said that they will bring students back from the coaching centre hub.
Reactions from Opposition leaders
Congress leader P Chidambaram said that buses alone will not be sufficient to ensure smooth travel and suggested that the government run sanitised trains.
“I welcome the decision of the government to allow inter-state movement of migrant workers and students after testing them by bus,” he wrote on Twitter. “This has been a demand of the Congress party since mid-April.”
“Buses alone will not be sufficient. It is better to run sanitized trains point-to-point to move the large numbers who desire to migrate back to their home states.”
Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury alleged that the government allowed migrant labourers to return to their homes only after subjecting them to hardships. He criticised the Centre for passing on the responsibility of transportation to the states
“Finally, the Centre has condescended to permit migrant labour to go home, after subjecting them to untold hardships, misery, hunger and exposure to Covid,” he wrote on Twitter. “But how? It’s now the responsibility of the concerned States to organise busses, fund the costs and take all health precautions!”
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