BJP MLA Ashish Shelar on

Wednesday demanded that authorities arrange mobile phone communication between stranded migrant workers in Mumbai and their family members living outside Maharashtra to contain unrest among them.

In his letter to Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray, who is Guardian Minister for Mumbai suburban district, the Bandra (west) legislator identified lack of communication between the migrant workers and their family members as one of the reasons for growing distress among them.

He said the workers are not able to talk to their family members because they have exhausted pre-paid recharge limits of their mobile phones.

The Bandra West constituency represented by Shelar has a significant concentration of migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

Thousands of workers gathered near Bandra railway station on Tuesday in defiance of the lockdown norms, apparently due to the rumour about plying of special trains.

"A number of labourers have been unable to speak to or contact their family members due to exhaustion of mobile phone talk-time recharge, as retail shops are closed and many labourers don't have access to online recharge. Arrangement should be made so that they can speak to their family members," Shelar stated.

The former minister said the Tuesday's protest was a serious intelligence failure.

"The labourers were mobilised and organised. The question remains at whose behest?" he asked.

Shelar alleged that the migrant workers have not received any food or rations from the government.

"They also did not receive any aid from the cess collected for labour welfare under the BOWC Cess Actas per the Central government's advisory," he claimed.

Shelar demanded that the entire area in Bandra west be declared as the containment zone till the testings are done and reopened only after the Health department declares it as virus-free.

The former minister also demanded a financial aid for the workers as per the Central advisory.

He also said that the police personnel who handled the Tuesday's protest and local residents be tested for coronavirus infection and the entire area sanitised.

"The migrant workers should be tested and quarantined," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)