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New Delhi, March 29 (PTI): The Congress on Sunday asked party workers to step up efforts to mitigate the suffering of migrant labourers due to the nationwide lockdown and increase its presence at the grassroots level.
During a meeting of Congress leaders from across the country held via videoconferencing, concerns were raised over the exodus of migrant workers, who have been rendered jobless and forced to return to their native villages.
The meeting was attended by 82 party leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Ahmed Patel, Randeep Surjewala and K C Venugopal
Venugopal, AICC general secretary, organisation, said it is necessary to ensure food and essential services are provided to migrant labourers and Congress workers will work towards it.
It was decided that the exodus of migrant workers should be taken up seriously and a solution to this crisis be sought in coordination with the respective state governments, he said.
Venugopal said Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former party chief Rahul Gandhi and the AICC Communication Department have been continuously urging the Centre to urgently intervene in this grave matter through letters, social media posts, press releases and statements.
Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) presidents have been asked to step up efforts to speak to all MPs, MLAs and MLCs with instructions to reach out to the distressed sections and help the people in need, he said.
In states like Maharashtra and Kerala, where maximum COVID-19 cases have been reported, the PCCs were asked to put in place a plan of action to resolve all hardships being faced by people, he added.
Venugopal said PCC chiefs have been asked to exhort party workers to help as many distressed people as possible.
In states like Kerala, community kitchens have also been set up by the party at district, panchayat and block levels, he said.
As many trucks carrying supplies are not being allowed inside Kerala, state CLP leader requested the AICC to take up the issue to pressure the state and central governments to let them enter, he added.
Venugopal also asked the PCCs to increase the ground-level presence of the Congress.
They were advised to set up a strong monitoring system in the states and ensure the party's presence everywhere, he said.
It was suggested that a control room should be set up in every state, besides having a central control room, he said, adding that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi need to interact with party workers and general public on a regular basis.
"As a lockdown has been imposed in states, the PCCs were advised to ask the state governments to issue passes for party workers for distribution of food and medicine kits," the senior Congress leader said.
Many of the thousands of jobless workers, marching from their workplaces to their native villages in states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh hundreds of kilometres away amid the coronavirus lockdown, are not being welcomed back home.
In many places in Bihar and elsewhere, those returning back home from states and even from neighbouring countries like Nepal and Bhutan were reported to the police, who, in turn, handed them over to medical authorities for tests and subsequent measures.
Some villages in Bihar have gone into lockdown, refusing entry of people even from neighbouring areas, to curb the spread of infection.
"Four of my co-villagers working in Nepal returned home two days ago. But villagers informed police about them following which they swooped on the village with ambulances and handed them over to the medical team," Abhishek Singh told PTI over phone from Alawalpur village on the outskirts of Bihar's capital Patna.
"In neighbouring Fatehpur village, six people returned home from Bhutan yesterday, undertaking part of their journey on foot in Bihar and West Bengal, but were handed over to police by neighbours," said Singh.
In a similar case, nine people returning to their village Jamalpur, near Alawalpur, from Mumbai were handed over to police and medical authorities, said Luv Singh of Jamalpur village, though they had been examined earlier in Mumbai by medical authorities.
They too were asked to stay at home, he added.
Station House Officer Nagmani Kumar of Guari Chack police station, having jurisdiction over these villages, confirmed this trend to PTI over phone.
"Yes, it's true. Initially over 15 people coming from outside the state were reported to us by villagers and we handed them over to medical teams," said Inspector Kumar.
Later the medical teams have begun picking them up on their own after getting information about such cases, he said, adding at least 40 people, belonging to various villages like Alwalpur, Fatehpur, Kamarjee, Kandap and Masadhi in the jurisdiction of Gaurichack police station were reported to the police.
In fact, Piariya village near Alawalpur has locked itself down, refusing entry to even people from neighbouring areas, he said.
"Good for us," he quipped.
In other instances, some youths, who had recently jumped quarantine in Karnataka and reached their village in West Champaran in north Bihar, were handed over to the police.
The imposition of 21-day nationwide lockdown to break the coronavirus transmission chain has triggered large-scale migration of jobless daily wagers, undertaking marches from cities outside their states to their native places, braving days of hunger and fatigue and breaking down on slightest gesture of sympathy.
But the villagers' stance of reporting them back to the police is not in variance with the stands of various governments, which have been urging workers to stay put at places where they are, assuring them of food and other essentials.
Many have also panicked over rumours that the lockdown would be extended further.
A group of four construction labourers, marching from Gurgaon in Haryana to Badaun in Uttar Pradesh, met this reporter on National Highway 9 in Delhi leading to Ghaziabad on Saturday night.
They said they are returning back home on foot itself because "experts say the lockdown period would be further extended by at least three months", referring to some WhatsApp forward messages they received.