JOIN USNearly 15,000 migrant labourers from within Karnataka stuck in their place of work have returned to their hometowns over the last one week with the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) operating 518 buses for them.
The KSRTC has been running buses on casual contract from April 4. Till Thursday, 510 buses were operated from 14 divisions carrying 14398 workers to various places across the state.
Migrant labourers, most of them daily wagers, have been suffering for the last one month as the Covid-19 lockdown has effectively put an end to their jobs. The government had made efforts to stop them from leaving their places fearing that they may spread the disease to interior areas.
However, keeping them in community halls and maintaining social distancing has become a challenge. Workers were made to stand in kilometre-long queues to get food packets distributed by the government.