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The Union Interior Ministry order that sanctioned interstate travel is only designed to allow stranded people to reach their homes, a senior government official told the Hindustan Times. “The operative word is stranded.”
The approval of the Interior Ministry is mainly aimed at the 14 lakh people who have been housed in 38,000 aid camps established by the government and the non-profit sector, the official said, referring to reports that millions of people could travel from cities to villages.
He said the order made it clear that it was for “migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and others” who are “stranded in different places.”
“If a worker is at home, say Delhi or Gurugram where he works, it should not be counted as stranded,” said the official.
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The fine print was pointed out to the state’s top secretaries in his video conference with Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba last week. The Center did not explicitly specify it in Wednesday’s formal order to give states leeway to resolve procedures according to the situation on the ground.
But it is important for states to ensure that the situation is not allowed to become a wrestling for all at any time.
“Because if the situation seems to get out of hand, the Center can change the rules again,” said the official, who heads one of the committees empowered by the central government.
The senior government official’s warning comes after the Union Interior Ministry relaxed its closure to allow migrant workers, students, tourists, pilgrims and others stranded in other states to return home.
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The relaxation occurred days before the end of the 40-day national close on May 4. In the next phase, the Center is expected to emphasize the resurgence of economic activity in green areas of the country that have not reported patients with Covid-19, ease restrictions in the orange zone but keep intact the ban on the movement of people in the red zones and their containment zones.
It was in this context that the Center decided not to operate special trains to transport migrant workers or others. Instead, the order from the Union’s home secretary, Ajay Bhalla, made it clear that the trip home would have to be made by bus.
It is a logistical nightmare to organize the large number of buses that would operate from one state to another. This is particularly the case, as a bus cannot be allowed to carry more than 25-30 passengers in view of social distancing regulations.
But given the clamor of the states to operate special trains, the government is open to review this condition. However, a decision has yet to be made. A challenge would be to prevent people from pulling the chain between stations and getting off closer to home.
The idea of requiring people to ride buses, said a government official, was to discourage people from traveling long distances.
“The closure will be reduced in a few days and migrant workers should be able to return to work in green areas,” the official said.
He explained that it would be unrealistic to expect economic activity to resume in the absence of the migrant workers they constitute. It was a point that had been underlined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi also when, during one of his many interactions with senior ministers, he asked them to address the migrant workforce that may be native to another state.
There was, the official said, an additional advantage of allowing only migrants in aid camps to return home.
“They have been living in state aid camps and have been monitored by state health authorities … Since there have been no reports of an outbreak of the disease in relief camps, it is reasonable to expect that workers, in In general, these camps are free of infection and the possibility of the disease spreading through them in rural areas is very low, “he explained.
This is why the central government did not direct state governments to place migrants in state quarantine facilities, but instead allowed for home quarantine. Furthermore, given awareness of the disease in all parts of the country, it is reasonable to expect that there will be social pressure on returned migrants to keep them in isolation.
