Only MP has offered to pay migrant workers’ rail fare: Pune admn

By Tuesday evening, as many as 28,000 migrant workers have registered with various police stations in Pune City to procure the inter-state transit pass needed to travel out of the state.

“State governments have taken different stances. Some are saying they will accept the migrants back only after we conduct COVID-19 tests. There is one state (Madhya Pradesh) which is willing to pay the fare and has requested us to send the migrants. There are other states which say that migrant travellers should pay the fare. We have also received requests from political parties and NGOs that are willing to contribute towards the fare,” said Mhaisekar.

He said the administration has held meetings with railway authorities, who have reiterated that only an ‘origin to destination’ train will be operated, which will have no stops between the two stations. Each train will have a minimum passenger strength of 1,080 and a maximum of 1,200.

The trains will not run from Pune railway station but from other stations close to the city such as Daund and Manjari, said District Collector Naval Kishore Ram. He also clarified that the medical certificate that has to be attached with the application form of migrants who want to leave the state doesn’t need to be from a government hospital. “The Union government order clearly says that it can be from a registered medical practitioner, which can be an MBBS or BAMS or any other registered physician,” he said.

“I spoke to the IMA (Indian Medical Association) office-bearers and have requested them to ensure that the migrant workers are not overcharged for obtaining the fitness certificates,” said Mhaisekar.

Talking about migrants and students who are stuck in Pune and want to return to their homes in other districts of Maharashtra, Ram said that there are some districts, especially those in Marathwada region, where the administration is resisting the idea of accepting migrants from Pune, which has seen a high number of COVID-19 cases.

Mhaisekar said the state government directives are clear on this subject and they specify that no district administration can refuse to accept its own residents who have temporarily migrated in search of work or for studies.

“The districts will have to accept the stranded migrants who are anxious to return home. We can give them time to prepare and make arrangement to ensure that the migrants don’t become a source of virus spread, but they can’t refuse to accept them. As for their transport, the inter-district stranded persons can make their own arrangements. If they are going in a car, only driver plus two persons will be allowed. In a bus, about 30 persons can be allowed. They should send their applications and the process will be completed by sending the lists to respective districts,” said Mhaisekar.

When asked about the arrangements made for the return of Pune residents stuck in other states, Ram said the number was not very high, and most such students were in Delhi and Punjab. “As many as 72 students from the district who were stuck in Kota, Rajasthan, have recently returned. About 100 students are at Lovely Professional University (Punjab) and some are in Delhi. We will expedite their return,” said Ram.