Amarinder Singh To Nitish Kumar: Punjab Will Take Care Of Migrant Workers From Bihar

In the wake of a massive exodus of migrant workers from urban centres across the country to their villages, after the nationwide lockdown, Punjab chief minister Captain Amrinder Singh addressed the issue of checking their flight from his state. The Punjab chief minister spoke to his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar and assured him of the safety and security of migrant workers from Bihar who are stranded in Punjab. Capt. Amarinder Singh told Nitish Kumar that all the migrants from Bihar stranded in Punjab would be taken care of, their essential needs including food shelter and other amenities would be provided for.

Nitish Kumar had earlier appealed to migrant labourers stranded in different states across the country to stay where they are and not to attempt to return to their home state. The Bihar chief minister in his appeal, observed that the very purpose of a countrywide lockdown would be defeated if people tried to return to their hometowns hundreds of miles away.

Media reports stated that more than 40,000 people reached Bihar from different parts of the country by Monday evening after which the state's borders were sealed. Those who managed to enter Bihar are being screened and later sent to quarantine centres outside villages. The state government will house these migrant workers who had returned from different parts of the country in these quarantine centres outside the villages, for a period of 14 days after which they would be allowed to go home.