Migrant Workers: States Face Logistical Challenges In Organizing Return

Lucknow, Patna: The states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, among others, face major logistical challenges when it comes to bringing back migrant workers, students, pilgrims and others stranded in other states during the ongoing nationwide lockdown imposed in the fight against Coronavirus. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had given the go-ahead for this move through a notification on Wednesday.

While all states have welcomed the Centre's move and are planning to bring stranded migrant workers back from various parts of the country to their home states, the implementation on the ground has proved to be an uphill task.

The scale of the challenge which transport of migrants will turn out to be, can be gauged from the fact that after the MHA notification on Wednesday, when the Uttar Pradesh government notified a helpline number for migrant workers in Maharashtra, within hours, more than 100,000 calls were reported to have registered on it. This gives us an idea of the numbers which states are looking at when it comes to transporting migrants stranded in other states during the ongoing lockdown. The UP government is reported to be mobilising buses to bring migrant workers and others back to the state.

While all states have welcomed the Centre's move and are planning to bring migrant workers back, the implementation on the ground becomes an onerous task for the authorities. For instance, Karnataka is said to have put the requirement of the number of buses needed to transport migrant workers stranded in the state at 4000. All states are now in the process of figuring this process out given the numbers involved.

Bihar and Jharkhand for instance, are reported to have requested for help to transport migrant labourers, students, tourists and pilgrims stranded in other states. Bihar's Deputy chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi admitted that the State did not have enough buses to transport migrants from other states back to Bihar. He sought the help of other states in the matter.