DDMA panel to ensure food, shelter for migrants in Delhi

NEW DELHI:  Amid migrant workers’ rush to leave Delhi following a weeklong lockdown, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has formed a sevenmember committee to ensure food, shelter and other arrangements for daily wagers in the national capital. Migrant workers, mostly from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, continue to leave Delhi.

Many workers at Anand Vihar ISBT who had plans to go next month have decided to leave now. “I am going to my hometown and will return by May-end. Delhi is locked down, and no one knows what would happen next. I already had plans to leave for a wedding next month,” said Santosh from UP’s Mirzapur. The daily wager worked at a construction site in the national capital. The crowd at Anand Vihar ISBT was much more organized on Tuesday.

The Delhi government has quickly formed teams of officials to manage the crowd, besides discouraging them to rush out of Delhi. “This is Kejriwal’s lockdown and the situation already looks grim. We don’t want Modi to put a national lockdown. We must leave now… we’ll be back May-end,” said Surya Bhan, who headed to UP’s Kanpur along with a friend who lives in Hardoi. Both are employed as private security guards in an apartment complex in Delhi.

The ISBT saw a large presence of police and civil defence volunteers who were seen managing the crowd and not allowing busses and private vehicles to stop for long. This helped in checking overcrowding on the already congested roads. “The crowd has reduced to some extent. Workers from other states are now reaching the bus stand and looking for means to leave the city.

The situation was very bad on Monday night,” said Manoj, a civil defence volunteer, deployed at Anand Vihar ISBT. The Delhi government has appointed officials to ensure the welfare of daily wagers and migrants staying in Delhi in terms of providing them shelter, food, water, sanitation, medical aid and other necessities.

A city government order asked officials to follow the directions of the Delhi High Court which stipulates a financial aid of Rs 5,000 to workers during lockdown. Meanwhile, Delhi Police Commissioner S N Shrivastava has directed all district DCPs to curb unnecessary movement of vehicles on roads. The DCPs have appealed to labourers and migrant workers to stay home and not leave the national capital.