Not fair to ask gram pradhans for food, lodging of migrant workers: Cong

The Congress on Monday flayed the Uttarakhand government for making gram pradhans responsible for arranging food, lodging, and quarantine facilities for workers returning to the state amid the coronavirus lockdown. Contending that a huge number of workers have been brought back to Uttarakhand in recent days, state Congress president Pritam Singh said it was not fair to leave the task of making arrangements for their food, lodging, and quarantine to gram pradhans.

"It is impossible for gram pradhans with the limited resources at their disposal to handle this huge responsibility all by themselves," Pritam Singh said. "It would have been better had the state government itself made arrangements for their medical examination and quarantine," Singh said.

Around 30,000 workers have returned to the state and several thousand are expected to arrive in the coming days. The Congress leader asked the state government if it has a blueprint to give employment to them.

Till Sunday, 1,79,615 migrants had applied online to return to the state.