Amid nationwide lockdown, Bihar govt to send migrant labourers to their villages

In a major decision, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has decided to send all the migrant labourers who have arrived on the borders of Bihar, to their respective villages. This decision was taken after heart-wrenching visuals of labourers walking back to their villages in Bihar, across the country, went viral.

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Around 25,000 labourers reached the borders of Bihar in various districts, on the buses organized by the UP government and the Delhi government.

In a notification, Bihar government has directed all the District Magistrates to ensure that all the labourers reach their villages in vehicles arranged by the district administration after a medical check-up. On reaching their village, all people should stay in a relief camp organized by the government of Bihar for 14 days and follow the protocol of social distance and home quarantine. 
The government has also directed the District Magistrates to create a database of the labourers who have reached the district.

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Principal secretary of Disaster Management, Government of Bihar Pratyaya Amrit said, "On the direction of the Chief Minister, we have ensured that approximately 25,000 labourers were ferried to their respective villages in vehicles organized by Bihar Government. These labourers had arrived from different parts of the country on the Borders of Bihar in Gopalganj, Siwan, Nawada, Buxar, Saran, Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnea."

Despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi's declaration of 21 days lockdown in entire India to fight COVID-19, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal arranged for buses for migrant labourers, who were dropped on the borders of Bihar. In order to stop the virus from spreading in the state, Bihar Government had organized a relief camp for these labourers on the Bihar UP border, but the labourers were hell-bent on going back to their villages with a plea that if Yogi Adityanath and Arvind Kejriwal could arrange for buses then why can't Nitish Kumar. 

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