About 10 central trade unions have jointly written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to ensure the return of migrant workers to their homes without charging any fares in trains and in other public transport.

They also said that enough is not yet done for ensuring ration to everybody. "We again urge you to please open the huge Anna Bhandaar available with FCI for all these people, they said. All the workers working in different other states or in the far off districts/locations within the state far from their villages are now exhausted financially and mentally with no cash and nothing at all in their hands wherever they are stranded. In such a situation, to make them pay for their rail fare to travel back to their homes is the height of insensitivity to their plight," the letter said.

Terming a recent order of the Union Home Ministry on the movement of migrant workers as discriminatory, the unions said no restrictions can be put on the movement of the migrant workers making it time conditional on all those who are desperate to visit their families. "Moreover no one would be interested in un-necessary travel as there are fears of getting infected from Covid-19 virus," the letter added.

They urged the Prime Minister to immediately cancel all unnecessary projects such as the New Parliament Complex, provisions made for NPR, so that funds are available where needed urgently.

Published on May 5, 2020