Published 08:25 IST, March 29th 2020
BJP's Tajinder Bagga responds to Tej Pratap Yadav's appeal for workers; earns gratitude
Amid the 21-day lockdown due to COVID 19 outbreak in the country, RJD's Tej Pratap Yadav, in a bid to help the stranded people from Bihar, wrote to BJP's Bagga
Amid the 21-day lockdown due to coronavirus outbreak in the country, RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav, in a bid to help the stranded people from Bihar, wrote to BJP leader Tajinder Pal Bagga, requesting him to arrange ration for them. Yadav took to Twitter to share a list of people stranded in the national capital and requested Bagga, BJP chief Manoj Tiwari to help them by providing them food and shelter. Bagga soon responded saying that it has been done, gaining Yadav's praise.
As the lockdown began in the country, migrant workers, especially from Bihar, UP and West Bengal, in the absence of transport facilities, started a home-bound walk. This despite the Government of India and the state government's numerous advice to avoid travel and stay put at the current location. On March 29, after UP and Delhi governments arranged buses to send them home, large crowd gathered at Delhi's Anand Vihar Bus terminal to board buses, raising the risk of COVID 19 spread.
Bihar CM against migrant workers movement from one place to another
Amidst the decision of the Uttar Pradesh and Delhi governments to send migrant labourers to their native place on special buses, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has opposed the move citing the threat of coronavirus' spread.
Speaking to Republic TV, Kumar said, "No buses should be allowed to carry any passenger from any state, else COVID-19 will spread and it will be a complete violation of lockdown. People should remain where they are and the respective state governments should make arrangements for their stay and food. Else people will congregate in large numbers to get back to their native place and create a law and order situation."
The JDU chief also said that he has spoken with many of his counterparts in other states and suggested the building of camps locally to house these migrant workers instead of sending them back. "The (Bihar) state government will reimburse the costs of these camps. This is a period of crisis and the idea behind lockdown is to break the chain of the virus from spreading further."
On March 26, CM Nitish Kumar announced that his government will coordinate with other states and bear the expenses of migrant workers, who might have been stranded there owing to the three-week-long nationwide lockdown. CM Kumar made the announcement at a high-level meeting he chaired here to review the situation arising out of the outbreak of the disease. He also said that a sum of Rs 100 crore has been released from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund which would be utilized by the disaster management department for setting up shelters for rickshaw pullers and daily-wage earners who might be living away from their homes.
Updated 08:25 IST, March 29th 2020