Migrant workers and their families board crowded buses to their villages amid lockdown in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)

With Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath arranging special buses to send migrant labourers back to their respective states, more than 1.5 lakh migrant workers are set to arrive in Bihar by Monday (March 30), leaving the state in an unenviable situation.

More than 58,000 migrant workers already reached Bihar in special trains, a day before the nationwide lockdown kicked in on March 25.

The colossal challenge that Bihar faces now is not limited to provide food and shelter, which can be done with some efforts after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar released Rs 100 crore under this head, but the bigger task is to effectively quarantine the new arrivals and keep them separated from rest for at least 14 days.

Though CM Nitish Kumar has expressed reservation against Yogi Adityanath's move to arrange special buses and transport people in "violation of the lockdown", the Bihar government has decided not to stop these vehicles from entering Bihar. The step, Nitish Kumar is believed to have conveyed to the Centre, would defeat the purpose of the nationwide lockdown ­ to stop the spread of novel coronavirus (Covid-19).

Bihar Water Resources Minister Sanjay Jha told India Today TV that Nitish Kumar on Saturday spoke to "everyone who matters in New Delhi" and apprised them of the "impending danger" that pushing the migrant workers out of Delhi would pose a huge problem to Bihar in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Sending migrant workers via special buses is an unwise step. It may trigger a spread of the disease and create difficult problems for everybody in checking or tackling it," Jha said.

"The migrant workers travelling to Bihar are being disembarked from these buses at the bordering districts. We are making them to stay for the night in the special relief camps put by the state disaster management department," the minister added.

The influx of migrants has left Bihar with huge operational challenges, as 22 of Bihar's 38 districts share borders with states of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal, besides Nepal. Managing the 1,751 km long and porous Indo-Nepal with numerous open transit points is a difficult job too.

So far, more than 40,000 migrant workers already reached Bihar on Sunday.

"We are providing them food and shelter in specially created relief camps at the borders. Doctors would screen each of them. Then, all these migrant workers would be sent to their villages in vehicles arranged by the state government," said Prtyaya Amrit, Principal Secretary, Disaster Management Department.

"The Block and Panchayat officials of their localities have been tasked to keep each one of them in quarantine in the government schools and Panchayat Bhawans of their areas," he added.

Incidentally, the Bihar CM has already released an amount of Rs 100 crore as a relief package to the state Disaster Management Department to help the Covid-19 victims.

"We will provide food and shelter for every Bihar resident, who is trapped in corona crisis, irrespective of his or her location," said the chief minister. The Nitish government's package covers all who have been rendered vulnerable and left without a livelihood.

Helpless and jobless, thousands of people, mostly from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, have left the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), Punjab and Haryana for their villages after their workplaces were closed because of the lockdown.