TN shows the way in taking care of migrants

The AMMA canteens, governmentrun community centres and homes are now housing more than 4,200 migrant workers in Chennai.

Across the state, there will be easily more than 10,000 migrant workers and they are handled with care at different levels, a senior government official said adding that the district collectors have already been sensitised on the issue, much before the Union Home Ministry advice on migrant workers came in. 

“Unlike the north Indian states there is no such exodus from TN and the situation is totally under control. Most of the migrant workers in the state are from West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Nepal. They will complete their 14 days observation protocol without any hassle,” said the official.

According to Corporation Commissioner G Prakash, a total of 4,240 migrant labourers are housed by the city Corporation at its community centres and homes. West Bengal tops the list of migrant workers with 691, followed by Bihar and Odisha with 186 and 175 workers respectively.

“Even as the number of COVID-19 cases has doubled in Tamil Nadu since last week, now with the state overtaking states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, the state officials are confident that the curve will slow down by next week, as the migrant population in TN are intact,” another official said. To bail out the Tamils stranded in other states, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had also reached out to respective CMs to safeguard the Tamils stranded there, the official said. According to sources, the twitter handle of the Chief Minister has also eased out several such migrant labourers’ issue between TN and states like Maharashtra and Jharkhand, the official who is monitoring the migrant workers’ issue told DT Next.