Uttar Pradesh govt eases travel for state migrants; other state migrants needs to remain

All the migrant labourers staying in shelters across Uttar Pradesh will be given permission to travel to their home districts within the state if they have completed their 14-day quarantine, and have tested negative for the novel coronavirus. The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday further declared that the migrants from outside the state will have to stay at the shelters until further orders.

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In the official data released on Saturday, a total of 1,25,989 people are accomodated in 5,241 shelters across the state. Police personnel have been deployed to maintain law and order at several shelters. The largest numbers of migrants from outside the state belong to Bihar and Nepal.

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Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi informed that in every district, from the state government and district administration, there are quarantine facilities. District Magistrates have been directed to see if there are any people at such facilities who are locals in the same district so that arrangements can be made for them to reach home after testing, and the migrants will have to stay in home quarantine, which will also be monitored.

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He further added that if there are people from other districts of the state at these facilities, then arrangements should be made for their travel in an organised and phased manner. But those from other states will have to continue staying. As per the quarantine protocols, those who have been in the shelters for fewer than 14 days will not be allowed to leave before they complete the given days, Awasthi asserted.

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Apart from Bihar and Nepal, there are people from Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra at the shelters. In Gonda, 396 people have been housed in nine shelters, the district administration feels that since construction work is likely to be allowed soon, most of these labourers would get work, and would not mind staying on.