Migrants wanting to return can apply to administration

TNN | Apr 26, 2020, 04:00 IST

Migrant workers line up to fill the travel forms on Saturday in Surat

Surat: With many state governments like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha beginning the process to bring back their workers stuck in other states, the district administration in Surat has started inviting applications from the migrant workers wanting to travel to their native places.
Official sources said that the migrant workers will, however, have to arrange their own vehicles to travel from Surat. They will first need to submit their applications at the office of Navsari MP CR Paatil for getting inter-state travel permission.
Application forms are being distributed in the migrant-dominated localities in the city and that the workers are asked to fill up the details
Talking with TOI, Paatil said that workers returning to their natives will have to undergo screening and 14 days quarantine there.
A senior official said, “The government will not provide any transportation service and the workers will have to arrange vehicles on their own.”
Chairman of Bihar Vikas Parishad (BVP), KK Sharma said, “They are yearning go home and we are ready to help our people in all possible manner to ensure they reach Bihar safely.”
Meanwhile, Shramik Seva Sangh, an NGO working for Odisha workers in Surat has urged the Odisha government to arrange for special buses and trains to help the stranded reach their native places. The NGO alleged that the textile unit owners have not paid lockdown wages to their workers and most of the workers are living in congested spaces risking their health from the rapid spread of Covid in Surat.