Medical certificates from Maharashtra won’t be enough

Nisha Nambiar | TNN | Updated: May 5, 2020, 07:39 IST

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PUNE: Migrant workers applying for travel from Pune and Mumbai to other states may face a hurdle as some states want a Covid-19 test for all workers instead of the medical certificates that have uploaded on the web portal for application of travel passes, Pune district administration officials said.

“We have 40,000 workers and we cannot test all of them,” the official said. Pune district collector Naval Kishore Ram told TOI that only if permissions are granted from the states they have applied for will the movement be allowed.
“There is no need to panic. We are starting construction activities and the workers in non-containment areas can work and employers will have to pay their salaries,” he said.
District officials said some states would not prefer movement of workers from red zones such as Pune and Mumbai to their green zone areas.
Additional chief secretary and officer in charge of the migrant workers and stranded people Nitin Kareer told TOI that states had issued such orders but were told to withdraw them. The workers should be allowed to travel with medical certificates as per the MHA guidelines, he said.
However, officials communicating with various state officials said there is apprehension about the permissions. “Unless they grant us approval we cannot let them travel,’‘he said.
Ram has appealed to the employers to ensure that those staying on rent be allowed to extend their payment for another month.
He said the workers should not travel to get these certificates. “If they are in a group, the district administration will arrange for a doctor to do the needful. They should not crowd outside hospitals. They may face strict action if they do so. Police stations have told representatives of workers to apply in groups rather than as individual applications. As of now, the state has not made any arrangement for travel,” he said.