NEW DELHI: An unusual demand from sections of daily wage earners and migrant workers, who have no work due to lockdown and are dependent on free food, has stumped some authorities and political leaders. Sources said there has been a demand for some cash assistance for recharging their mobile phones.

A source said during an interaction, some of the people living in relief camps set up in different districts have raised this issue saying their mobile phones are not working as they have no money to recharge them. Most of such people have pre-paid mobile connections.

“They are saying that with the mobile phone not working, they can’t stay connected with their dear ones and can’t watch anything on their smartphones. Most of them have a smartphone with internet connectivity. Now our focus is to see that people stuck in cities and towns get enough food,” the source added.

Lakhs of free meals are being distributed across cities and towns by government agencies, corporate, NGOs and philanthropic entities since the lockdown was announced. This will continue at least till lockdown is completely lifted.

Meanwhile, the majority of the district administrators including police have been flagging the issues of stuck migrant workers while interacting with different Central ministers . They have also raised a shortage of PPEs and lagging health infrastructure during daily reviews with ministers. PM Narendra Modi has assigned tasks of monitoring the situation and resolves issues of a number of districts to each minister.

The ministers have also been tasked to review the preparations of specific districts to the pandemic COVID-19.

“The concerns of administrators are genuine. But now the priority is to tide over this crisis by ensuring the necessary supply of health essentials,” said a source.

Meanwhile, feedback from the majority of the district collectors has reportedly flagged similar concerns that Central ministers have been hearing from local authorities.

Officials have backed the need for a lockdown to break the chain of COVID-19 spread. They have also said that the gain from lockdown should not be lost once the normalcy returns and hence there is a need to lift the lockdown in phases.

In fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday made a similar suggestion of phased lifting of lockdown to states during his web-based interaction with the chief minister and top bureaucrats of all states.

