Provide accommodation to frontline staff in Surat: Mahuva MLA

Melvyn Reggie Thomas | TNN | Apr 19, 2020, 18:18 IST

Photo for representative purpose only

SURAT: The chorus over providing accommodation to the frontline workers coming from other districts and villages is growing with the phenomenal increase in the Covid-19 cases in Surat.
Close on the heels of Navsari district administration, the MLA from Mahuva assembly constituency in Surat has urged the State Government for providing accommodation to the frontline staff employed with the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) at their headquarter to curb the spread of contagious infection in rural areas.
Mohan Dodhia, BJP MLA from Mahuva assembly constituency wrote a letter to CM Vijay Rupani after a safai worker from Mahuva taluka, employed with the SMC, was tested positive of Covid-19 on Saturday.
In his letter, Dodhia stated that the people travel from Mahuva to Surat for work on daily basis as they are employed in the frontline duty with the SMC and other government departments, New Civil Hospital etc. For the safety of the villages, their families and others, these frontline workers should be given accommodation in the city where they work.
Earlier, Navsari administration had urged SMC authorities to provide accommodation to their employees shuttling between Navsari and Surat daily.
In a letter to SMC authorities on April 16, Navsari district collector Ardra Agarwal stated that many people from Navsari town and nearby talukas work in sanitization and health departments of SMC and they travel for work to Surat on daily basis. These employees should be given accommodation at their headquarters to reduce threat of local transmission of contagious disease in Navsari.
Agarwal has said, “State government’s revised guidelines issued on April 15 bans inter-state and inter-district movement of people, except in special cases. Representations have been received from elected representatives of the region to stop movement of people going for work to Surat to contain spread of infection in Navsari.”
Talking with TOI, Mohan Dodhia, MLA from Mahuva assembly constituency said, Over 3,000 people from rural areas in the district travel to Surat for their work. With the rapid rise in the positive cases in Surat, people in rural areas are worried. It is required that the frontline staff workers should be given accommodation in the city, so that they avoid travelling to their native villages”