TIRUCHI
Several migrant labourers in Tiruchi Range encompassing five districts have expressed their willingness to leave to their home State owing to the current lockdown.
Employed in various types of trades until the lockdown was announced rendering them jobless, the migrant labourers from various North Indian and few Southern states had been staying in various places in Tiruchi, Pudukottai, Ariyalur, Karur and Perambalur districts.
In order to address their grievances and ensure personal distancing at their respective places of stay, law-enforcers in Tiruchi Range had recently nominated a police officer in the rank of an Inspector of Police in each of the five districts to look into the needs and requirements of these migrant labourers.
Migrant labourers from West Bengal, Chattisgarh, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Maharastra, Telangana, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh have been working in the Tiruchi Range.
Law-enforcers say they had compiled a list of migrant labourers hailing from different States who had expressed their willingness to leave to their native State in view of the current lockdown which has been extended up to May 17.
The list has been compiled district-wise in Tiruchi Range by the law-enforcers regarding the migrant labourers who had registered in the online portal expressing their willingness to return back to their home State. The Tiruchi Range accounts for over 18,000 migrant labourers, according to police statistics.
Many migrant labourers working in Tiruchi Rural police limits hailed from West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Maharastra. The number of migrant labourers staying in Tiruchi Rural Police limits alone were over 3,000 housed in 52 centres at present.
Ariyalur district, which has a chain of cement factories and other units also, has over 3,000 migrant labourers, says a senior police officer.
Police sources said more than 1,300 migrant labourers had expressed their willingness to leave to their home State and registered themselves in the online portal to return to their State, says an officer.
Another police officer said more than 600 migrant labourers in Perambalur district had expressed their willingness to return to their home State and registered in the dedicated portal. Many migrant labourers in Pudukottai and Karur districts have also expressed their wish to leave for their State.
Police say the total number of labourers who had expressed willingness to return their respective State was over 7,000 in Tiruchi Range. The Tiruchi Rural Police has created a dedicated helpline number for migrant labourers to contact and express their grievances and needs.
Besides food packets, grocery items such as rice, edible oil and dhal were being given to the migrant labourers in Tiruchi district in the wake of the lockdown. Medical screening of these labourers were done as a precautionary measure in the backdrop of the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.