Will make efforts to bring back workers who returned to native states: Hry Dy CM

Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala on Wednesday said the state government will make efforts to bring back the migrant workers who had returned to their native states during the coronavirus-triggered lockdown.

Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala on Wednesday said the state government will make efforts to bring back the migrant workers who had returned to their native states during the coronavirus-triggered lockdown. The government will soon launch a web portal for registration of these workers willing to return to Haryana, Chautala told reporters here after he and CM Manohar Lal Khattar attended the chief ministers' virtual conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the COVID-19 situation of the country.

"The migrant workers were primarily engaged in industrial and agriculture sectors. The government will make efforts to bring back those who returned to their native states. The migrant labourers have also expressed their desire to return to Haryana and get back to work," he said. This was the second day of PM Modi's sixth round of consultations with chief ministers on fighting the pandemic.

Chautala said that Bihar has informed the meeting that those who returned to the state during the lockdown now want to get back to work in Haryana and Punjab. About the COVID-19 situation in Haryana, the deputy chief minister said cases had mainly increased in Gurgaon, Faridabad and Sonipat districts.

If the need is felt, the state government can think of creating isolation centres in indoor stadiums like some other states have done, he said, adding that Haryana was fully prepared to deal with the situation and the health department was making all efforts. Haryana has close to 9,000 coronavirus cases, over 40 per cent of which are from Gurgaon alone. The state has a total 130 fatalities.

PM Modi told the chief ministers to think about 'Unlock 2.0' and also ways to minimise the spread infection. Modi noted that the spread of COVID-19 is more in a few big cities and states, and urged the chief ministers to make full use of their existing testing capacity and also work to augment health infrastructure. He also said that there was a need to "fight" the rumours that the lockdown could be reimposed.