Movement of stranded workers: TN govt appoints nodal officer

The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday appointed senior IAS officer Atulya Misra as its nodal officer to regulate the movement of stranded persons, including migrant workers, in the state during the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown. Misra is Additional Chief Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management.

His appointment comes a day after the Union home Ministry had asked all states to facilitate safe movement of migrant workers, pilgrims and others who have been stranded in various places across the country to their respective home states. Misra will regulate the movement of pilgrims, tourists, students, migrant workers and others who have been stranded in different places in Tamil Nadu.

He will also coordinate with other states for bringing those from Tamil Nadu stuck in other parts of the country, due to the prohibitory measures enforced by the Centre to contain the spread of Covid-19, the state government said. Earlier in the day, a senior official of the state Labour Department said Tamil Nadu was keen on sending back migrant labourers stranded here and that it was expecting "clear-cut" guidelines on the logistics from the Centre so that it can start the process.

Migrant workers, tourists, students and others stranded in different parts of the country were on Wednesday allowed to move to their respective destinations by the Centre with certain conditions, giving a big relief to the distressed people. "The issue of students from other states stranded in Tamil Nadu also arose while discussing about the migrant workers, at a meeting of an expert committee constituted by Chief Minister K Palaniswami.

We are expecting guidelines from the Centre by Thursday evening on the logistics of shifting them," the official said. The state government was keen on sending them home and would wait for clear cut instruction from the Centre on the mode of transportation and the wherewithal involved in the process.

According to official sources, the state government discussed the modalities of arranging vehicles, providing food and vehicle passes to ensure these people are not stopped at check-posts or inter-state borders. "Logistics were discussed today and this would be followed up in the coming days.

The nodal officer will coordinate with the respective states and central government officials, on the number of stranded people willing to be moved out of the state or brought back," a senior government official said. Depending on their numbers, the vehicles would be arranged to ferry the people to their states, he added.

The vehicle numbers would be passed on to the check-posts or the police manning the inter-state borders to ensure safe passage. Most importantly, arrangements have to be made to provide them food on their way home.

Once they reach their home town, they are likely to be screened for coronavirus, before allowing them to join their families, the official said. In Tamil Nadu, the hosiery hub of Tiruppur, which accounts for two lakh migrant workers, and Chennai with 1.34 lakh work force, have the highest concentration of migrant labourers in the state.

In neighbouring Kancheepuram district, around 38,000 migrant workers have been identified by the administration. About a month into the lockdown, the home ministry on Wednesday relaxed lockdown measures to allow movement of migrant workers across states but with strict health protocols.

Listing the conditions, the ministry said all states and union territories should designate nodal authorities and develop standard protocols for receiving and sending such stranded persons. The Tamil Nadu government, taking the plight of the workers into consideration, has announced the distribution of Covid-19 relief kit containing 15 kg of rice, one kg each dal and oil to lakhs of migrant workers from Assam, Odisha, West Bengal and Gujarat stranded in the state.

The stranded workers also seem to be in a mood to go back home. "We are very keen on going home.

This coronavirus lockdown has not only denied us work but also separated us from our family," said Kans Ram, one among five construction workers from Basti in Uttar Pradesh who got stranded at his work site in Maduravoyal here. Like him, the other four too want to return home.

"But we have not received any intimation from the government or police on being sent home. We hope this ordeal will end soon and we reunite with our family," he added. Some of the workers said they could not even receive the state government's relief of Rs.1,000, as they don't possess family ration cards here.

"We were not even able to obtain this sum during this hard times when we are hardly receiving any support from the industry, especially in terms of wages. We have no option but to get back to our state," said V Singh, another construction worker from Jharkhand.