BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday said that it is high time that the migrant labourers, who are away from their homes during the ongoing lockdown due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, be sent back home. He also said that the Central Government should assist the State Governments and arrange for buses or planes.
Taking to Twitter, he wrote, "It is high time that State Governments, with Centre's assistance if required send willing migrant labourers to their homes. It should be by buses, and Air Force transport planes for journeys more than 500 kilometers."
Earlier, huge crowds of migrant labourers took to streets in Mumbai's Bandra, Gujarat's Surat and Murshidabad in West Bengal.
On Tuesday, in Mumbai's Bandra West, over 1,000 migrant workers gathered, demanding transport arrangements to go back to their native places. This was only hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended the coronavirus-enforced lockdown till May 3. The Police had to resort to mild force to scatter the crowd.
Similarly, hundreds of migrant workers gathered in Varachha area of Surat on Tuesday evening, demanding that they be sent to their native places despite lockdown. Varachha is the diamond polishing hub of Surat, giving employment to lakhs of workers from different parts of Gujarat and the country. The Police intervened and persuade them to vacate area.
On Wednesday, similar incident took place in West Bengal's Murshidabad. The labourers came in large numbers to demand food items, as they have been stuck for 25 days. “No arrangement has been made for us,” one of the labourers alleged.
Meanwhile, 38 deaths and 1076 new cases have been reported in last 24 hours. India's total number of coronavirus positive cases rose to 11,439 (including 9756 active cases, 1306 cured/discharged/migrated and 377 deaths), said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday morning.
