Migrants return in strength as J&K gets back to business

SRINAGAR: Jammu & Kashmir, which had seen outbound movement of 40,000 non-Kashmiri migrant workers starting May 19 on account of the Covid-19 crisis, has reported reverse migration of around 25,000 labourers in recent weeks.
Senior officials in the home ministry and J&K administration said the return of migrant labour, facilitated via 25 Shramik special trains run from Katra and three chartered flights, is thanks to the efforts of J&K government to restart development works in all areas other than Covid-19 hotspots. “While the rural economy is in full bloom with a hopefully bumper fruit season beckoning, other activities, including wage labour works, public works and large projects are revving back to action. Similarly, private industries and contractors are remobilising labour and there is now a push for reverse migration,” said an officer.
The labourers are flying back into J&K from various states such as Bihar, since air route is preferred due to limited operation of trains. “While some employers take care of the airfare, many migrant workers are spending own money to reach J&K as they have work options here,” an officer told TOI.
Of course, with J&K being the only jurisdiction in the country that mandatorily conducts RT-PCR tests on all arriving persons or returnees, each of these returning migrant workers is tested for Covid at the entry point itself, be it airports, railway stations or the highways. Sampling and testing set-ups have been created at the entry points and all returnees must shift to administrative quarantine centres till the test results are received in the next 24-48 hours.
Till now, 3.2 lakh persons, including 60,000 returning migrants (both Kashmiris working in other states and non-Kashmiris working in J&K) who have come into J&K have been tested.
Thanks to its 100% testing protocol for arriving/returning passengers, over 4,200 positive cases could be detected at J&K entry points and isolated. This, a senior J&K official told TOI, has prevented an estimated 20,000 potential cases, assuming that a positive person could have, on an average, infected four others.