Gehlot asks officials to make arrangements for return of migrants

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday said he was in touch with Railways to ferry migrants to the state and asked district collectors to ready quarantine centres for them.

He directed officials to make arrangements for transportation, quarantine and other facilities for the migrants who would return to the state.

In a video-conference with senior officials late Thursday night, the chief minister reviewed preparations for safe movement of the migrants.

Gehlot directed district collectors to prepare a route chart in coordination with the Railways so that labourers and other migrants could reach their destination without any problem, an official statement said.

Rajasthan has got registered nearly 10 lakh migrants. Of them, 70 per cent are those who want to return to Rajasthan and rest 30 per cent are the migrants of other states.

Prior to the video-conference with the collectors, the chief minister said that arrangement of special trains for ferrying migrants stuck in other states was "very much required". He and hoped that the Centre would soon take a positive decision on the matter.

"The Centre should arrange special trains for migrant labourers who are stranded in different states. The Railways should release schedule of the trains as soon as possible," Gehlot told PTI before the meeting.

"I have been consistently demanding that the Centre operate special trains for migrants who are stuck in various states," he said.

The chief minister asked the officers to prepare short-term and long-term strategies to fight COVID-19.

Gehlot said efforts should be made to revive economic activities while containing the spread of coronavirus.

"Along with lockdown, it is equally important to run economic activities. If all activities are shut for a long period, it will create a financial crisis and that will make fight against corona more difficult," he said.

Health minister Raghu Sharma informed that the state's capacity to test samples has increased to 9,100 per day which will further enhanced to 10,000 testings per day.