Will bring back Delhi students stuck in Kota, says Kejriwal; city govt, Delhi Police working on SOP on movement of migrant labourers

Arrangements are being made to bring back students hailing from the national capital stranded in Kota in Rajasthan due to the lockdown, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday, while the Delhi Police and the city government are working on modalities of movement of migrant labourers. The Delhi Police said it is also in touch with the officials of other states regarding movement of migrant labourers, students, tourists and pilgrims.

"Delhi govt is making arrangements to soon bring Delhi students back home from Kota,” Kejriwal said in a tweet. Maharashtra and West Bengal are among other states which have decided to bring back their students stranded in Kota.

On Wednesday, at least 70 state transport buses left from Maharashtra to bring back students stranded in Kota, the coaching hub for engineering and medical aspirants.  On the movement of migrant labourers and other stranded people, Delhi Police's Public Relation Officer Mandeep Singh Randhawa said, "The government of GNCTD (Delhi) and Delhi Police are finalising its modalities and are working on the standard operating procedure (SOP)." "We are in regular touch with the resident commissioners of other states. According to the MHA guidelines, people will have to register themselves so that their movements till their homes can be regulated," he said. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), in an order issued on Wednesday, allowed migrant workers, tourists, students and other people, who are stranded in different parts of the country, to move to their respective destinations with certain conditions.

The order stated that buses shall be used for transportation of such groups of stranded people and these vehicles will be sanitised and will have to follow safe social distancing norms in seating. Kejriwal on Wednesday said the Delhi government was in touch with other states and they would come out with a proper plan in the next one-two days.

On March 28, thousands of migrant workers thronged Anand Vihar bus terminus on the Delhi-UP border to go back to their villages.  Similarly, on April 14, the last day of the first phase of the lockdown, several hundred migrant workers had assembled on the west side of Bandra suburban station demanding trains to take them to their native places, just hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an extension of the lockdown till May 3. Meanwhile, at the Yamuna Sports Complex, a sprawling facility that now houses over 1,000 people, a majority of them being migrant workers, many want to go back to their homes.

Mannu, 19, and his friend Satish Kumar are among the migrant workers waiting for the lockdown to end. "I heard some others were allowed to go home after they showed their Aadhaar cards. So we thought even we can return home now," said Kumar. They were, however, told by the official that only those with valid address proofs of Delhi will be allowed to leave the complex after thorough verification.

"We have all facilities here. But we want to go back home to our families. We don't have any work here or money," Kumar said. The duo, residents of Bahraich in UP, had bought a new bicycle to return to their village from the construction site in Haryana where they worked. But they were intercepted by police during their journey and brought to the shelter on April 27. Till Wednesday, Delhi recorded 3,439 cases of coronavirus and 56 fatalities.

On Thursday, one more nurse at the North Delhi civic body-run Hindurao Hospital tested positive for coronavirus. Meanwhile, the Delhi government identified two more private hospitals for treatment of coronavirus patients in case of "shortage of isolation beds". In an order issued on April 30, Delhi Health Secretary Padmini Singla declared two private hospitals -- Maha Durga Charitable Trust Hospital and Sir Gangaram City Hospital -- as COVID-19 hospitals for admitting confirmed or suspected cases.

The order cited "the shortage of isolation beds in private hospitals" as the reason for the decision. The Maha Durga Charitable Trust Hospital will have 100 isolation beds, while Sir Gangaram City Hospital will have 120 beds.

The medical superintendents of these hospitals have been directed to make isolation beds facility functional before May 3. Earlier, the AAP dispensation had declared government hospitals LNJP, and Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital, and private hospitals Sir Gangaram Kolmat Hospital, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital and Max Hospital, Saket as COVID-19 hospitals.

In another order, the Delhi government directed the LNJP Hospital to make in-house dialysis facility functional for COVID-19 patients immediately..