Over 10 days into the lockdown period, has it been a wild goose chase for the government in identifying the underprivileged, including migrant workers, who require a helping hand?
It appears that the effort to track down and distribute food or dry rations has been seriously hindered by lack of authentic data on their numbers. Neither the government nor trade unions have data as to how many migrant workers continue to remain in Bengaluru after the first few days of exodus.
While the distribution of prepared food has been meagre, the supply of dry ration has to pick up pace on ground, multiple sources confirmed.
Meanwhile, top government sources involved in relief work said that supply has been based on calls received at the Aahara call centre or by manually identifying locations that are scattered across the city. An app, launched on Friday, will track the demand on real time basis, the senior official said.
While internal discussions in the Labour Department has estimated that about 3 lakh people are in need of help, efforts are still on to identify exact locations and numbers, those aware of the planning of logistics told The Hindu . “Even we do not know how the 3 lakh figure was arrived at,” a source said. Explaining the problem, multiple trade union leaders said that migrant workers could not be organised due to their presence in various locations and language barrier. This issue was not addressed earlier on by the Labour Department, they alleged.
The result has been a logistical nightmare for those involved. In one instance, multiple calls for prepared food that came from the same location resulted in excess food and wastage. Adding to the confusion, in some locations, labour camps have been covered by multiple agencies — local resident welfare associations, trade unions, corporates, institutions, or political leaders. The government is not in the know of this web of agencies involved.
Meanwhile, the plan to distribute 1 lakh dry ration hampers, consisting of 13 essential items each, to the needy families is yet to gather pace.
