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Updated May 17th, 2020 at 14:56 IST

Bihar govt arranges buses for migrants walking on foot to help them reach home states

Thousands of migrant workers in Bihar started walking on the Saharanpur-Ambala highway on Sunday morning.

Reported by: Manjiri Chitre
COVID
| Image:self
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Thousands of migrant workers in Bihar started walking on the Saharanpur-Ambala highway on Sunday morning after being worried about the uncertainty of the availability of trains for their travel to their homes. After the migrants refused to stop even after the district administration pacified them, the Divisional Commissioner arranged for buses to take them to the Bihar border, after which the respective district administrations will make further arrangements. 

Narrating the incident to the media, Divisional Commissioner Sanjay Kumar said that since the past two days, they have been sending the migrant workers to their native places through trains in batches. "But today there are no trains as the permission could not be received from the Bihar government. We tried to assure them of being sent back safely but they are worried and want to reach their homes as soon as possible," he said.

Kumar further added, "We then held talks with them and arranged for buses to take them to their native places in buses scheduled for the border areas of their respective districts in Bihar. We are coordinating with the District Magistrates (DMs) in Bihar to make provisions for their travel from the Bihar border to their homes."

Read: India's COVID-19 death count rises by 120, record jump of nearly 5,000 new cases

'We want to return to our families...'

Meanwhile, the migrant workers stated that they had no demands other than reaching their homes as soon as possible. Speaking to the news agency, ANI, one of the migrant workers said, "We were working in a company here, after two months the owner asked us to leave. We were living for the past 10 days in the Saharanpur Ashram. Our food and other provisions were taken care of there. But today we got to know that there are no provisions for those belonging to Bihar. Therefore, we took to the streets to return home."

Read: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar suggests extension of lockdown till May 31 as COVID cases rise

Home Secy's order to state governments/UTs

Meanwhile, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla on Friday wrote to Chief Secretaries of all states and UTs to ensure that there is no movement of migrant workers on roads and railway tracks, and facilitate their travel through special buses or Shramik special trains. In the letter, Bhalla noted that despite the Ministry's earlier advise to state/UT authorities to appropriately counsel migrants walking on roads and provide them with food, water, and shelter, thousands of them were still seen walking on roads, railway tracks and travelling in trucks in different parts of the country.

Read: Coronavirus Live Updates: FM Sitharaman to announce final tranche as cases rise to 90,927

Read: Telangana CM declares no active COVID-19 cases in State except four zones in Hyderabad

(With ANI Inputs)

Image Source: ANI

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Published May 17th, 2020 at 14:56 IST

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