Lockdown displaces lakhs of migrants

The Jharkhand government on Friday said close to six lakh migrant labourers were reported stranded at over 12,000 locations across the country.

“As many as 5,97,187 migrant labourers have been reported stranded at 12,257 places. So far, the government has mobilised food and lodging for 4,47,261 labourers stranded at 10,153 places,” according to Jharkhand’s Department of Labour, Planning and Training.

The department said complete information was also being collected from the people to provide assistance at all levels.

Information about stranded labourers was said to have been gathered with the the help of the ‘Chief Minister Special Assistance Scheme Mobile App’ launched recently by Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

Database of labourers

According to the government, the application helped in creating a database of migrant labourers and enabled the Jharkhand government to mobilise assistance.

When all public transport came to a grinding halt following announcement of lockdown last month, hundreds of workers stuck outside Jharkhand had probably opened an account in social networking site ‘Twitter’ in order to communicate with Mr. Soren.

The CM had instead forwarded those messages to his counterparts eliciting their assistance to residents of Jharkhand.

“I have no idea how the State government has come to such a particular number. If the statistics are true, then the methodology and tool used for arriving at the astounding number should be followed by all high migration States,” said Umi Daniel, head of the Migration information and Resource Centre (MiRC), Aide et Action South Asia, an international voluntary organization.

A ‘State Level Corona Control Room’ has been set up by the State government which functions through toll free helpline number 181.