Gujarat government bans mass exodus of migrant workers, assures of food and shelter

The Gujarat government on Friday decided that no migrant workers will be allowed to travel back to their natives during the lockdown period. The officials said that district administrations have been instructed to provide food and accommodation to such workers during the lockdown and stop their movement at once.

From earlier this week, thousands of daily wage earners started going to their native homes on foot and by hitchhiking in neighboring Rajasthan and other parts of Gujarat after a complete lockdown was announced in view of the rising threat from coronavirus pandemic as all means of public and commercial transports have been shut. After media reports on such mass exodus and their plight, the state government allowed transporting them to the Rajasthan border and other parts of Gujarat to their homes.

Ashwin Kumar, secretary to the chief minister, told reporters on Friday, “District administrations have been asked to make arrangements for their food and accommodation. It has been decided that they won’t be allowed to travel anymore till the lockdown period.” He said that a helpline number (1077) has been set up for migrant labourers who can contact for help for their stay and food.

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Kumar also informed that for two days, the chief minister had allowed these workers to leave and arranged for their transportation but now it has been stopped. He said that the government had deployed 150 state transport buses and 500 privates buses to take these daily wage workers to Rajasthan and other districts of Gujarat, mostly tribal areas in the past two days.”

Meanwhile, the state government's submission before the Gujarat High Court revealed that only 4039 workers were transported by the state government in 55 buses to their destinations such as the Rajasthan border, Madhya Pradesh Border and various internal destinations such as Palanpur, Dahod and Lunawada. The data reveals these workers were ferried from 25th to 26th March.

The mass exodus of workers is being reported from all the major cities of the state including Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and Vadodara. A large number of people from Rajasthan work in these cities as construction workers, house-hold helpers, in food joints among other areas. Besides, a significant number of tribals from central and south Gujarat also migrate to cities in search of work.

"We are still receiving thousands of these workers on foot, on tractors or on trucks. For the past two days, we saw state transport buses fetching them till Ratanpur from where Rajasthan government buses take them to their villages. On the border, they are being medically examined and then allowed to go ahead. We have also arranged food and water for them as all hotels and restaurants are shut," said a Deputy Superintendent of Police, Sabarkantha district that shares border with Rajasthan.