AP CM instructs officials to ferry migrants walking home to relief centres & arrange buses

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has instructed state officials to arrange buses for migrant labourers walking back home and take them to the nearest relief centres. The relief centres will then facilitate the further journey of migrant labourers. Police check-posts across the state have been provided with staff from the revenue department to counsel the migrant labourers to go to the relief centres with a promise to arrange Shrami Specials for them. 

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79 food counters set along NH

The state government has also informed that 79 food counters have been put up along the national highway to provide migrants with food and water. District collectors have been asked to put banners on highways in Hindi and Oriya explaining the arrangements done by the state government. Once the labourers reach relief centres, officials have been instructed to arrange APSRTC buses for them free of cost. Similarly, Shramik Specials will be arranged for people travelling to other states. 

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In a press release issued by the state government, it has stated that around 4,661 migrant labourers have been stopped at various check-posts and sent to 62 relief centres. Out of these, 485 people were walking to various districts of Andhra Pradesh while others were travelling to other states including Odisha, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh. The government has also claimed that it has arranged 31 Shrmaik Specials till date facilitating the transport of 39,000 migrants while it has planned another 22 trains for 33,000 people in this week. 

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(with inputs from ANI)