'Be patient, be safe': Nitish Kumar assures migrants, says 'adequate steps being taken'

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar urged the migrant workers stranded outside the state to be patient and stated that the government is taking necessary steps to ensure their return to their home state. This comes after thousands of migrant workers in Bihar started walking on the Saharanpur-Ambala highway on Sunday morning amid uncertainty on the availability of trains for their travel back to their homes.

Taking to Twitter, Bihar Chief Minister assured the migrants, citing the necessary steps taken by the government to bring all the migrant labourers back to Bihar in full capacity at the earliest.

READ: 'Rahul Gandhi's associates took migrants away': Delhi Police hit back at Cong's allegation

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: Bihar, WB not giving required clearance to run trains:Deshmukh

Bihar Govt Arranges Buses For Migrants Walking On Foot 

After the migrants walking on the Saharanpur-Ambala highway 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. We are coordinating with the District Magistrates (DMs) in Bihar to make provisions for their travel from the Bihar border to their homes."

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

READ: Uttar Pradesh Minister slams Priyanka Gandhi over engaging in 'politics' over migrants