Tens of thousands of migrant workers are making their way back home. Some are on special trains organized by government, some on buses organized by states, some on hired vehicles, still there others who are cycling back home or simply walking. These migrant workers are on long journey back home, battling hunger, infection, disease coupled with numerous adversaries on highway.
The Jharkhand government looking into the problems of these migrant workers has decided to start community kitchens to provide food to the poor and migrant workers amid the lockdown imposed to check the spread of coronavirus.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren has directed his officials to set up community kitchens for migrant workers. These community kitchens will set up on highway at the distance of 20 km where the government will provide food, water and medicines to migrant workers.
Also from these community kitchens the migrant workers will be taken to nearby camps from where the respective district administration will provide transportation facility for migrant workers.
Soren said that reports of deaths of migrant workers on highway has gone up and in such situation the state government has decided that migrant workers entering State borders will not be allowed to walk. “It is duty of state government to provide transportation facilities for migrant workers. The migrant workers from state will be dropped at their home.”
The Chief Minister’s observation on migrant workers being killed on road accidents assume importance as on Tuesday, as in yet another fatal accident in Maharashtra, 4 migrant workers from Jharkhand were killed while 15 others were injured after a bus they were travelling in crashed into a truck near Yavatmal district. The bus was travelling from Solapur to Jharkhand.
Also, few days back at least 25 migrant labourers were killed and 33 others injured when a truck carrying them collided with a DCM in Auraiya. Most of the migrants were coming from Rajasthan and out of these 24 migrant workers 11 people belonged to villages of Kherabera and Babudih of Bokaro district.
Sources said that more than 50,000 migrant workers have returned through 50 Shramik Special’ trains. The migrant workers returning home follows guidelines set up by government but the real risk is from those who are returning own either on private vehicles or by their own means.