Hyderabad: Migrant workers who wanted to return to their native places created ruckus at Aramghar, Hyderabad when cops tried to stop them from violating lockdown norms.
They not only broke the social distancing norms but also confronted police officials. Some of them were also seen carrying sticks.
These migrants are workers of L&T company hired for work at Shamsabad International Airport. They are the native of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar etc.
It may be mentioned that ever since the lockdown is imposed in the country, migrant workers’ issue is in the limelight.
40 special trains
Meanwhile, Telangana government announced that 40 special trains will be operated from the state every day over the next one week to send migrant workers back to their respective states.
Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao announced the trains will be operated from Tuesday from various stations in Hyderabad, Warangal, Khammam, Ramagundam, Damaracharla and other places to Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and other states.
According to the Chief Minister’s Office on Monday night, he spoke to South Central Railway General Manager Gajanan Mallya and requested him to arrange for 40 special trains from Tuesday.
Review meeting on problems being faced by migrants
Rao held a review meeting on the problems being faced by the migrant labourers in the state due to lockdown. Medical and Health Minister Etela Rajender, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Director General of Police (DGP) Mahender Reddy and others attended the meeting.
The meeting discussed the transport arrangements for the migrant workers expressing their desire to go back to their native places.
The state government had appointed senior IAS officer Sandeep Sultania and senior IPS officer Jitendra Reddy as special officers to oversee the travel of migrant workers to their native states.
The migrant workers have already registered their names with the local police stations to leave for their native places. Migrant workers who have registered their names with the police stations would be allowed to travel by the special trains. The details of the travel will be given at the police stations.
The Chief Minister said no migrant labour should feel anxious as the government had made arrangements for their travel to their native destinations. He instructed the police officers concerned to inform the migrant workers about the travel details and coordinate with them.
First special train
The first special train for the migrant workers was operated from Telangana on Friday last. The train with over 1,200 workers left from Lingampalli railway station near Hyderabad for Hatia in Jharkhand. All the workers were working on a construction site at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Hyderabad campus at Kandi in Sangareddy district.
Since then, there have been demands from migrant workers across the state for special trains to send them back to their respective states.