Assam Cong leader urges PM to use Army vehicles for taking

Leader of the Opposition in Assam Assembly Debabrata Saikia on Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to arrange Army vehicles to transport all stranded people to their homes across the country.

He also appealed to the Prime Minister to give food and accommodation to all the stranded people until they are sent home by following medical guidelines.

"I would like to request you kindly to mobilize Army vehicles to transport these stranded and cash-strapped people to their respective homes," Saikia said in his letter.

In case healthcare imperatives pertaining to the lockdown precludes their transportation at this stage, then instructions should be issued to ensure that all the stranded people are housed in vacant schools, colleges and other places with adequate provision of food, water, medicines and sanitizers, he added.

"In this context, the Army may use the trains also under supervision, and arrange quarantine facilities before letting these people go and join their relatives in villages," the senior Congress leader said.

As the lockdown commenced with immediate effect to stop spreading the deadly COVID-19, crores of countrymen were unable to prepare properly for the lockdown and got stranded, he added.

"This is especially true of the economically challenged sections of our society. Although petty vendors and daily-wage earners have been adversely affected, the worst-hit appears to be migrant labourers who work on a contractual basis in states other than their home state," Saikia said.

He said numerous such labourers have not only been rendered unemployed in a flash but also left stranded thousands of miles away from their homes.

"As the lockdown commenced at the month-end, most of these hapless people did not receive their full wages, thereby adding to their woes.

"The financial aid announced by the Central government is still a distant dream for them, stranded as they are so long away from home," Saikia emphasised.

He pointed out that hundreds of labourers from Assam are currently stranded in a pitiable condition in neighbouring states like Nagaland and Mizoram.

"Sir, these people are not foreigners. They are the sons of the soil and bonafide citizens. As such, just like the NRIs they too deserve help from the government during this unprecedented crisis," Saikia added.