Haryana to send migrant labourers from NE states to their homes

Migrant labourers from northeastern states who are stranded in Haryana due to the coronavirus lockdown will be sent to their native places in four Shramik Special trains, officials said here on Thursday.

One of the trains will run from Gurugram to Dimapur (Nagaland) via Guwahati and will carry labourers belonging to Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Assam.

Labourers from Tripura and Assam will be travelling on a train going from Gurugram to Agartala (Tripura) via Guwahati on May 23, the officials said.

Another will train leave Gurugram on May 25 and reach Jiribam (Manipur) via Guwahati carrying labourers belonging to Manipur, an official spokesman said here.

He said that all migrant labourers willing to go home will be sent.

Nineteen Shramik trains are scheduled from the state to Bihar, Nagaland, Tripura, Manipur, Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya between May 22 and May 27, he said.

Out of these, 15 trains will be going to Bihar and one to Chhattisgarh.

So far, more than 2,38,000 migrant labourers from various states, most of them from U.P. and Bihar, have been sent in Shramik Special trains and buses to their homes at the expenditure borne by the Haryana government, he said.

He said that about 688 shelter homes had been set up across the state for the migrant labourers stranded in Haryana due to the lockdown and about 9,400 labourers are currently staying in 72 such camps as many of them opted to go home.

He said that the state government has appointed nodal officers for all districts to ensure that no migrant labourers face any difficulties.

Meanwhile, about 11,000 Haryana residents stranded in other states have also been brought back homes. The process of sending and bringing back stranded migrant labourers is still going on, he said.