On the other hand, the Haryana government is in talks with the officers of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand to send back the migrant workers. (File)

With officials now estimating that as many as 5,000 Haryana residents are stranded abroad, there are hopes that the first flight bringing them home will land at New Delhi airport within a week. Earlier, the number of stranded persons was estimated at 3,700.

A senior officer from the state government, who has spoken to the officials at Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), told The Indian Express that the MEA was in process of getting in touch with all the embassies to get more details about those who are stranded in the countries concerned. “All flights with Haryana residents will land at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, New Delhi. The first flight will probably land within a week. As of now, we don’t have exact numbers of the persons stranded in each of the countries but we believe that many from Haryana who are keen to return to the country are currently residing in the USA, the UK and Canada,” said the officer. They are stranded in these countries since March this year when India had halted flight operations to curb the coronavirus spread.

On the other hand, the Haryana government is in talks with the officers of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand to send back the migrant workers. The government says that they will be sent to these states free of cost by special Shramik Trains. Initially, the trains will be sent to Bihar from five stations — Ambala, Hisar, Bhiwani, Rewari and Rohtak of Haryana. As migrant labourers from others states are small in number,their return will be ensured through special trains running from New Delhi.

However, Haryana Additional Chief Secretary (home) Vijai Vardhan has appealed the migrant labourers to stay “where they are staying at present and follow social distancing norms”. “Elaborate arrangements are being made to send them to their home states,” he said.

The appeal has been made to avoid chaos that was earlier witnessed at Delhi’s ISBT and Mumbai’s Bandra railway station. “For this, the authorities will bring the migrant labourers, who have got registered themselves on the Haryana web portal, to the railway stations concerned few hours or a day in advance,” said an officer associated with the preparations.

There won’t be any online ticket booking for the migrant workers and the officials will send them as per their lists prepared mainly on the basis of registration on government portal. “Each train will ferry only 1,200 passengers only. Those from neighbouring areas of other states may also be sent by buses. Inter-state passes can be given to those who can afford private taxies,” say the officials.

Hundreds of migrant workers gather at Jind

After getting information that the migrant workers were being sent to their native places, hundreds of workers gathered at a government college in Jind Tuesday. However, most of them were sent back to their local places. Sources said that initially only those will be sent to their native places who were engaged in agriculture and grain market related activities. A large number of agriculture labourers come to Haryana from different states for harvesting of mustard and wheat. As the harvesting of both crops is already over, so these workers are desperate to return to their native places.