MUMBAI: The central government might have issued a notification allowing migrants to go back to their home states and the Maharashtra government might have appointed dedicated nodal officers to help carry this out -- but now a Rs 200-crore stumbling block stands in the way.
Maharashtra has more than five lakh migrant workers stranded at various temporary shelter homes across the state with most of them hailing from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. They have been provided free of cost food through community kitchens until now. Shifting them back home, however, is another task altogether, according to the Maharashtra government.
"The central government issued the circular on Wednesday allowing these migrant workers to travel back home, but it had not mentioned who will bear the cost of transporting them. We calculated that to provide the transport facilities to all these migrants will cost the state exchequer no less than Rs 200 crore. Currently, the financial condition of the Maharashtra government is not sound. So, it is better the respective source states bear the cost of the shifting," said a senior Maha Vikas Aghadi minister requesting anonymity.
Former Congress chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said that in such a crisis, the Centre should bear the cost. "If it does not, then the source state from where the migrants are coming have to shoulder the responsibility. Actually, the central government should have started the long-distance trains that would not only reduce the travelling cost but help maintain social distancing as well. It will make everyone's life easier," Chavan said.
The Maharashtra government has appointed three senior-level IAS officers as nodal officers to oversee the whole process. They include additional chief (revenue) secretary Nitin Kareer, IA Kundan, principal secretary, women and child development department, and Abhay Yarawarkar, state disaster management director.
These three officials will coordinate to ensure the movement of stranded migrants, students and tourists during the lockdown while all district collectors will work as nodal authorities for receiving and sending stranded people.
"We will prepare the list of the migrant workers and share with the source state. Then, the respective department secretary will write to the source state secretary conveying the message of the state to arrange transport or bear the cost," said a senior government official requesting anonymity.
According to the notification, the nodal authority will register the name of those stranded and note down the places they desire to travel to.
No group will be permitted to travel without a letter of consent from the respective nodal authorities.
The screening of these stranded people will also be done and COVID-19 positive patients will not be allowed to travel from one part to another part.
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