Migrants need not pay a penny for travel: CP

Nagpur: City police chief BK Upadhyay, who interacted with migrants at Panjri toll naka on NH 7 on Monday, assured them that they would not have to shell out any money for their travel back home.
City police have so far facilitated more than 5,000 stranded labourers’ return to their native places during the lockdown in about 50 buses provided by the government and also private transporters.
One of the biggest camps for stranded migrants has been set by the city police at Panjri toll naka, which is one of the seven entry and exit points of the city, converting it into a makeshift interstate bus terminal.
Additional CP Nilesh Bharne and his team has roped in some NGOs and volunteers to provide medical facilities, food and water to the stranded people for the last few days after government had asked the department to facilitate the movement of the migrants.
Upadhyay also promised the labourers to ensure their passage to home at the earliest once the respective district administrations in different states approved their homecoming applications sent from here. The CP, being an additional DG, enjoys the rank equivalent to state chief secretary. He said all the expenses are borne by the government for the labourers’ travel.
The top cop also requested the labourers, especially from states like Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh etc, to remain at the shelter homes till the city police received approval from their district administration. The CP said police would ensure that stranded labourers at the shelter homes are looked after and their needs fulfilled.
Upadhyay said migrant labourers are being looked after by his team, NGOs and volunteers in an exemplary manner. “The labourers from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh would be shifted to Ganeshpeth bus depot through shuttle services. The state transport buses would take these labourers to the state borders free of cost,” he said.
“At the Panjri camp, we are conducting thermal screening too,” he said after the visit. He was accompanied by Bharne, zonal DCP Nirmala Devi, senior PI Vijay Akot of Beltarodi police station.
Migrant labourers from faraway states would be sent by train and their travel cost would be borne by the state government through chief minister’s special fund. “No one would demand any travel cost from the labourers,” he said.