UP To Bring Back Migrant Workers From Other States In Phases: Top 10

"The Chief Minister has asked for a plan to bring back migrants who have completed 14 days' quarantine in other states. Officers have been directed to prepare a list and check whether such workers have been tested," Awanish Awasthi, UP Additional Chief Secretary, said, adding, "We have also been asked to check how they will brought to state borders and how they will be kept in quarantine".

The UP government conducted a similar exercise last month, sending 1,000 buses to bring back migrant workers stranded in border districts like Noida and Ghaziabad to hometowns and villages in interior districts. The government claimed around four lakh migrants had been brought back. Last week the administration also sent 300 buses from Agra and Jhansi to bring back students stuck in Rajasthan's Kota, which is a popular coaching hub for competitive exams.

On Sunday Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra made an emotional video appeal to the UP government to help migrant workers from the state return home. "These workers are our own. It is the responsibility of all of us to help them. We cannot leave them like this. We have to find a way out," she said.

However, the UP government's decision to send buses to bring back migrants and students has also met with criticism. Last month Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, said it defied the logic of a lockdown and warned it could lead to an "increase in the spread" of the virus. "This entire exercise to send back people to their (native) states by special buses will defeat the purpose of lockdown. It will lead to an increase in the spread of virus in the next few days," he said, adding, "It is better to organise camps locally, instead of trying to send people back home. The state government will reimburse the costs of these camps organised by anyone".

On Thursday Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray reiterated his demand for the centre to run special trains to ensure that migrant labourers from other states, including Uttar Pradesh, could return home. In a tweet by the Chief Minister's Office, the state government claimed that around 6.5 lakh migrants were being provided with food, shelter and medical care, but were suffering emotionally due to the prolonged separation from their families. Speaking on the same issue, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar also referred to a law-and-order problem "that can be avoided if workers can return to their respective home states".

The centre had voiced its disapproval of Maharashtra's request, with Union Minister Nitin Gadkari warning of "another Nizamuddin-like situation". "I do understand their feelings but we cannot let them go without taking any precautions. It should not turn out to be another Nizamuddin-like situation," he was quoted by news agency PTI, in a reference to last month's religious gathering by Islamic sect Tablighi Jamaat in south Delhi's Nizamuddin. The government has claimed that around 30 per cent of all COVID-19 cases in the country have been linked to that event.

Last month, after thousands of migrants trying to get home to UP and other states gathered at an interstate bus terminal in Delhi, the centre directed state governments to seal borders and stop the migrant exodus. They should be provided with food, shelter and other essentials, the centre said, while also warning landlords against evicting migrant workers unable to pay rent and cautioning employers against not paying them during the lockdown.

The tragic condition of migrant workers has been repeatedly highlighted since the lockdown was ordered and all public transportation ground to a halt. Several, including a 12-year-old girl who died an hour from home after walking nearly 150 kilometres, have died trying to return home by walking hundreds, often thousands, of kilometres in searing heat. This week the government re-started some economic activity - such as construction works in rural sectors and agriculture and horticulture - in areas least affected by the virus, in hopes that it will help migrant workers find jobs and persuade them to stay where they are.

Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh are among the states most badly hit by the coronavirus outbreak, with the former reporting over 6,000 confirmed cases and 283 deaths. UP has reported 1,510 cases and 24 deaths. Across India over 23,000 cases have been reported and 723 deaths have been linked to the virus. In its daily briefing this evening, the government said 1,752 new cases had been registered over a 24-hour period, making it the biggest single-day spike in numbers.

On Thursday the government had claimed that the increase in the number of fresh cases was "more or less linear, not exponential", suggesting that the curve may be flattening. The government also pointed to improvements in recovery rates and increase in doubling time as indications the lockdown ordered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month was working to contain the novel coronavirus.