VELLORE: Meticulous planning and execution as per the plan has led Vellore district administration to avert a major humanitarian crisis when a large number of patients, who visited the Fort City for treatment at CMC Hospital, and inter-state migrant labourers got stuck there for weeks due to the lockdown.
When several places, including the textile hub Tiruppur and Chennai and its suburbs, struggled to deal with the agitated migrants, the Vellore district administration quietly worked out a plan to safely handle and arrange transportation for the thousands stuck in the district.
Until now, about 12,000 patients and migrant labourers have been sent back through special trains, for which, the State government spent its own money without depending upon the home states.
"We evolved a plan to deal with the stranded patients and migrant workers. Accordingly, we executed it resulting in smooth handling of those stuck up in the district," Vellore district collector A Shanmuga Sundaram told TNIE.
The district administration opened direct channels with the authorities of the Railways to operate special trains to ferry the stranded persons. The first Sharamik Special left Katpadi junction on 6 May with 1140 passengers to Jharkhand.
Database collection, assessment, advance movement before boarding on special train and passing of information on the date and time of boarding were part of the plan.
"Since there is no data available on the migrants, we thought it necessary to collect database and assess the nature of the stranded persons. Online registration of particulars of the people were done with the help of translators," the collector explained.
The authorities had a tough time in collecting the database and document them because the stranded persons hailed from states including West Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, and from neighbouring country-Bangladesh.
SMSs were sent, well in advance, to the mobilephones of the people on the date and time of train in which they were to board.
According to Shanmuga Sundaram, "We informed 1436 persons, in a batch, about the date and time of the special train on the day of boarding. They were asked to assemble at three marriage halls where tokens issued. We led them to the railway station on specially arranged buses."
"This helped unnecessary congestion and hassles at the railway station," he noted.
In in the initial days, several stranded persons thronged the collectorate seeking action to arrange for their return but the Revenue and Police department authorities empathetically handled them without giving room to any troubles.
Government departments including Revenue, Police, Health and others concerned synchronised perfectly to execute the plan for sending back the stranded patients and guest workers even as they remained focused on mobilising available resources to check the progress of the dreaded virus COVID-19.
"About 12,000 stranded patients and guest workers have been sent back so far without a single law and order problem," the collector said.
A thousand Bangladeshi nationals were sent back by arranging flight as well.
All the stranded persons sent back through train were distributed with food packets and water by Vellore district administration.