Anantapur: Migrants miss the train due to poor coordination among officials

Anantapur: As many as 150 migrant labourers from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh lodged in Gooty Engineering College, who had left by specially arranged RTC buses to Ongole to catch the Shramik train, bound for the respective States, missed it due to local authorities poor coordination with the Railway officials and returned by the same buses to the district.

The migrant workers after a tiresome journey for 18 hours returned to their relief and rehabilitation camp in the district on Monday.The district authorities appealed to Prakasam district administration to provide temporary shelter to the migrant workers until the catching of next scheduled train, also did not fructify. Now, the other options including sending the stranded workers to their respective states by RTC buses are being explored but no decision has been taken yet.

It costs Rs 6-7 lakh for their transportation by buses and the district administration is yet to take a decision on the issue. The migrant workers are threatening to walk their way to their home states if the issue is further delayed. The district authorities reluctant to send them back to their native states is due to the concerned states averse to receiving their stranded migrants fearing of further spread of the virus in their states.

Meanwhile students of Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning from the town too were sent to their respective districts by 6 RTC buses at the expense of the Sathya Sai Trust in Puttaparthi. Due to the half hearted approach of the Central government towards the burning issue of sending the migrant workers stranded in different states to their own states has complicated the issue and compounding the problems leading to restlessness among the migrant workers.