Only Those Stranded, MHA Reminds States on Migrant Movement
IRA JHA
NEW DELHI : The home ministry on Sunday made it clear to states that relaxations given for inter-state movement of people was available only to those stranded away from home because of the lockdown and will not be open to everyone.
In a directive to all states and union territories, union home secretary Ajay Bhalla said the allowance made for stranded migrant labourers to return home amid the countrywide lockdown is not open to everyone, the states have been reminded by the Centre.
The Centre said only people who have been stranded away from home by the imposition of the countrywide lockdown in March, can use the facility.
Over the last few days, lakhs of workers have registered to return to their homes in various states. Many of them have taken the special trains which the Centre agreed to run after initially asking states to send them back in buses.
The trains were run with certain conditions that include consent of both sending and receiving states, maintenance of social distancing norms besides others. Thousands of tourists, students and pilgrims were also stranded in different parts of the country due to the lockdown.
A 21-day lockdown was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 in a bid to combat the coronavirus pandemic. It was extended up to May 3 and again till May 17.
In its order issued on Wednesday, the Union home ministry said stranded migrant labourers, students, pilgrims or tourists who do not have symptoms of coronavirus can return to their home states.
Since Friday, as the Centre started running trains, thousands of migrant labourers have already reached their home states.
