NEW DELHI: In the face of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the movement of the migrant workers, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the scale of the exodus wasn’t anticipated. Chouhan added that the lockdown will continue to deal with the pandemic in containment zones, while the state braces up to open green zones for normalcy. “The initial assessment was that the migrants will stay back. But once the livelihoods ceased, they were faced with no options but to leave.
This wasn’t anticipated,” said Chouhan during a video conference with a select group of scribes Bihar and Uttar Pradesh bound migrants from the South-western states have seemingly flooded Madhya Pradesh. “Shutdown of factories set off wave of the exodus of migrants. In Madhya Pradesh, over 1,000 buses are transporting them across the length of the state in coordination with the neighbouring states, besides ensuring meals,” said Chouhan.
Among the first movers to tap economic opportunities presented by global disruptions, MP has reached out to embassies and Indian Missions abroad with a slew of measures to attract investments, he said. Reeling under the financial stress precipitated by the near two months long lockdown, MP has initiated steps for expansion of the fiscal capacity to create economic opportunities. “Offbudget measures and request to the Centre for amendment to the FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budgetary Management) to allow states to enhance states’ borrowing from the current three to five per cent are some of the steps being taken to deal with the financial stress,” he added.
The chief minister revealed that his government is working out a scheme for cash transfer to vulnerable sections of daily wagers, including barbers, losing out livelihoods in the red and orange zones in the next phase of lockdown. He added that the state has so far t r a n s f e r red `13,600 crore in the accounts of the weaker sections. “The strategy for us is to work on generating local employment by unleashing a web of cottage and small and medium industries which could manufacture goods which otherwise were being imported from China,” said Chouhan.
With “Off budget” measures, Chouhan illustrated that the entities like Narmada Basin Projects Company can borrow 10 times of the current revenue to undertake projects to create employment, while the FRBM Amendment may allow the state an additional loan capacity of `15-16,000 crore per annum. Chouhan said the state has allowed the industries to work in three shifts while overtime is only optional.