Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney on Friday came to the rescue of a group of migrant workers walking from Chennai to their home state Bihar.
The Chief Secretary, while returning from Tadepalli after a meeting with Cheif Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on the issue of migrant workers, found the workers walking on the road.
She stopped her car and interacted with the workers, who informed her due to lack of any transport facility to return to their homes in Bihar, they were forced to walk.
Moved by their plight, the top bureaucrat spoke to Joint Collector of Guntur district and Collector of Krishna district over phone and directed them to accommodate the workers in the shelter camps and arrange food and water for them. She also asked the officials to ensure that the workers are sent to their state by the next available Shramik special train.
The migrant workers including women and youth were touched by her gesture and thanked her.
Many migrant workers from Chennai are passing through Andhra Pradesh to return to their home states like Odisha, Jharkhand and Bihar.
Principal Secretary, Roads and Buildings, M.T. Krishna Babu said that the state government is taking up supportive measures for the migrant workers travelling to their native places by providing food and water along the highways across the state.
He said so far around 6,000 migrant workers were stopped at the border checkpoints and sent to relief camps. As many as 27,458 migrants have been sent to their respective states through 24 Shramik Trains.
Another 30,392 workers sheltered in relief camps will be sent in 22 trains in the next 3-4 days.
At a review meeting, the Chief Minister asked officials to provide counselling for the migrants who are walking back to their states and accommodate them in relief camps, followed by transportation through Shramik trains. With the help of NGOs, food and water will be supplied to such workers along the highways.
The official said 1,028 evacuees from the Gulf and other nations are coming back to the state in nine flights between May 19 and May 27. All these people will be landing at Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada airports and will be sent to their respective district reception centres. They will be kept in quarantine either at their expense or in the government-run facilities.
( With inputs from IANS )