india

Updated: Apr 25, 2020 13:45 IST

Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to bring back its workers stuck in various states due to coronavirus lockdown got a thumbs up from Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi.

On Friday, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath gave officials 14 days to bring the migrant workers back home. Upon return, the workers will be quarantined for 14 days in government shelter homes and subsequently sent home along with food grain and cash.

“The initiative taken by the Uttar Pradesh government of bringing back stranded migrant workers is laudable. We have been stressing on this issue and this is a positive step in this direction.

Earlier, the Uttar Pradesh government sent buses to bring back students stuck in the coaching hub of Rajasthan’s Kota.

“To ensure that this initiative succeeds fully, the state government must evolve a scheme for the return of rest of the labour force. If we continue with this positive cooperation in national good, we will gain a lot strength in our fight against coronavirus,” Priyanka Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

अन्य राज्यों में फँसे यूपी के कुछ मजदूरों को वापस लाने की पहल पर उप्र सरकार को साधुवाद। हम लगातार इस मुद्दे पर ज़ोर दे रहे हैं और यह उस दिशा में एक सार्थक कदम है।



इसे पूरी तरह से सफल होने के लिए बाकी मजदूरों के लौटने के लिए भी योजना बनानी जरूरी है।



अगर इसी तरह सकारात्मक.. 1/2 https://t.co/k2skJaUbLR — Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) April 24, 2020

On April 23, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar wrote to railway minister Piyush Goyal seeking special trains to take migrant workers home as he feared a law and border problem.

In the letter, the deputy CM said that the migrant workers who have been staying at shelter camps will likely take to streets on May 3 on completion of the second phase of the lockdown.

The Opposition parties, led by the Congress, had expressed concerns over the plight of migrant workers who were forced to take a long walk back to their villages due to the nationwide lockdown enforced to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

The political parties had urged the Centre to allow a one-time state transport services be made available to the migrant workers to enable them to go back to their homes.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren told Hindustan Times that he would request a special train from the Centre to transport migrant workers and others from different states back to their homes.