No data is available on the number of migrant workers who lost their lives during the nationwide 68-day lockdown restrictions that were enforced as of March 25 in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid -19), the Center informed Parliament on Monday.
The response of the Union Ministry of Labor and Employment to a question posed in the Lok Sabha seeking information on whether the government was aware that several migrant workers had lost their lives while trying to return to their places of origin and whether the details state toll was available.
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He also sought to know “if the government provided any compensation or financial assistance to the families of the victims.”
The ministry stated that, since such data were not kept, it was not a question of compensating the families of the victims.
Another question was asked about the government’s failure to assess the problems faced by migrant workers during the shutdown, including in Tamil Nadu.
Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Independent Minister of State (MoS) in the Ministry of Labor and Employment, said: “India as a nation has responded through central and state governments, local bodies, self-help groups (SHG), Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs), medical health professionals, sanitation workers, as well as a large number of bona fide and genuine non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the nation’s fight against the unprecedented human crisis due to the Covid outbreak -19 and the country -closed in everything, even in Tamil Nadu. “
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On May 30, HT had reported that there were around 80 deaths aboard the Shramik Special trains, which were heading to transport stranded migrant workers to their places of origin, between May 9 and 27, according to data from the Railway Protection Force (RPF).
The deceased were in the age group between four and 85 years.
The data also mentioned comorbidities or accidents that caused the deaths in some cases.
The ministry reported that more than 1.04 crore of migrants returned to their respective states of origin. Uttar Pradesh (UP) topped the list with 32.4 lakhs, followed by Bihar (15 lakhs) and Rajasthan (13 lakhs) in the first centralized database record on migrants.
It added that Indian Railways operated more than 4,611 Shramik Special trains to transport migrant workers and more than 63.07 lakhs were transferred to various destinations in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh (MP) and other states.
The trains started on May 1 to transport migrant workers during the lockdown to their home states. The Ministry of Railways had said in August that many migrants had started to return to the places where they worked. He also indicated that economic activity has begun to recover after the country began easing lockdown restrictions starting in September.
“The states and union territories (UT) have been advised to take appropriate measures to expedite the migration of workers in order to mitigate the difficulties of migrant workers returning to the states / UT of destination,” the ministry told Parliament.
“States / UTs have been advised to implement the counseling guidelines by rapidly preparing their labor law enforcement machinery and ensuring compliance with the law by all stakeholders, which could provide migrant workers with the help they so badly need to mitigate the financial crisis and empower them to deal with the pandemic. States / UTs have also been advised to keep up-to-date data on migrant workers to make it easier for the administration to extend the benefits of government welfare schemes to migrant workers, ”he added.
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