KSRTC carries 15,000 migrant labourers across state

Nearly 15,000 migrant labourers from within Karnataka stuck in their place of work have returned to their home towns over the last one week with the KSRTC running 518 buses for them.

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has been running buses on casual contract starting 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.

As many as 8561 labourers, most of them from north Karnataka, travelled from Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts in 192 buses operated by the corporation's Mangaluru and Puttur divisions.

In Chikkamagalur division, 3363 migrant workers were transported to various parts of the states, in a development indicating that the coffee plantations may face a labour crisis in the coming days.

Similarly, 805 workers left Bengaluru, followed by Mysuru (462), Shivamogga (381), Tumakur (338), Hassan (198) and other areas.