Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Tuesday said migrant workers from other states were responsible for the rapid spread of coronavirus in Maharashtra, which has been reporting a large number of new infections since the last few weeks.
"Over 5.42 lakh migrants were screened by health workers and among them 1,230 have been found positive for coronavirus. Samples of 46,142 have been sent for testing," said Principal Secretary (Medical and Health) Amit Mohan Prasad in Lucknow.
According to an official statement, in a letter to Goyal, Pawar said that the migrant workers, stranded in different parts of Maharashtra, may step out in big numbers to return to their states when the train services resume after the lockdown is lifted. This can lead to law and order problem (with workers coming out in big numbers), he added. To avoid this, the railway ministry should run special trains, he demanded.
Representatives of Citizen and Society Development Welfare, who have given the slogan of Dharavi Banao Andolan, met Srinivas and submitted a memorandum seeking expedition of the survey being conducted in Dharavi.
In an order, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said buses shall be used for transport of such groups of stranded people and these vehicles will be sanitised and will have to follow safe social distancing norms in seating.
The government on Monday ruled out the possibility of free food-grains distribution to migrants saying there is no panic situation and no complete national lockdown unlike last year.
In Delhi, Kumar's family lives in the Majnu Ka Tila area and they are engaged in small-time business. He said a total of five people got Indian citizenship in his locality on Wednesday. Over a hundred had applied for it, he said.
He also rejected reports that have hinted possible increase in coronavirus cases due to migrants and asked, "Did corona not spread at places where migrants were not there?"
'Children need milk. If there is no money, how can one buy it'
The migrant workers were walking along the rail tracks apparently to escape the attention of police. A video clip from the scene of the tragedy shows the bodies of migrant workers lying on the tracks and nearby with their meagre personal belongings scattered around.
He had uploaded a video on social media in which he demanded that the Maharashtra government make travel arrangements for migrants, who are stranded due to the coronavirus-enforced lockdown and want to go back to their native places.
'The Budget will be positive, continuing on the path of growth taken so far.'
The government said in March 2023, claims were made in social media that "migrant workers were being attacked in Tamil Nadu."
Vinay Dubey was granted bail on a cash surety of Rs 15,000. On April 14, the last day of the first phase of the lockdown, several hundred migrants had assembled on the west side of Bandra suburban station demanding trains to take them to their native places, just hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an extension of the lockdown till May 3.
There was no confirmation yet on whether the migrant had tested positive for coronavirus.
'The government will have to provide something for migrant workers or 'Farmers will still survive because they will eat what they produce.' 'What will the rest of the people do? What will happen to them?'omething else like that or else you will see some huge uprising or unrest.'
If solutions are not found, adequately and in good time, things could simply slip out of everyone's hands, warns N Sathiya Moorthy.
On Thursday, the government wrote to Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Odisha conveying it's decision and seeking their consent for receving the workers, official sources said.
In his order, the DM said it had come to light that in the present situation of a complete lockdown, several landlords were forcing migrant workers to pay the house rent, leaving them with no other choice but to vacate the place.
Uttam Ghosh asks why the PM Cares fund could not have paid for the train tickets of migrant workers on their way home when the government flew Indians stranded in different parts of the world for free!
Medical help did not reach Singh until an hour and a half later. He was airlifted to a hospital in Rome but died on Wednesday.
Officials of the Transport Department, bus drivers and conductors were contacted on Friday night to help the people who were stranded in Noida, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahar and Aligarh, among other places, he said.
Maharashtra Police found over 300 migrant workers holed up inside two container trucks meant for carrying essential commodities from Telangana to Rajasthan.
The Western Railway in a statement later said a Shramik Special train was scheduled for Purnia from the Bandra Terminus in which passengers registered with the state authorities were to travel. However, many people, who were not registered and not called by the state authorities, gathered on a road and a bridge near the station, it said.
A migrant worker from Bihar was shot dead by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Bandipora district, the latest in a series of targeted killings, officials said on Friday.
The air hung heavy with grief as an Indian Air Force aircraft carrying the mortal remains of 14 of the 45 Indians who died in a devastating fire at a building in Kuwait landed at Delhi's Palam technical area from Kerala's Kochi on Friday evening.
A truck carrying a group of 54 migrant labourers and their families from Ahmedabad in Gujarat to Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh rammed into a stationary truck near Lalpur police post on Kanpur-Jhansi highway, killing three people and injuring 43 others.
Migrants hailing from Gonda, Ambedkar Nagar, Unnao and other parts in Uttar Pradesh were looking forward to reach their homes.
Daily wagers are running out of resources, including ration and cash, and the state governments might not be able to sustain their needs for a longer period of time, given the lockdown has already been extended until May 3.
Italian police have arrested the owner of the agriculture company who dumped a 31-year-old Indian worker on the road without medical assistance after his arm was severed by heavy farm machinery, causing his death, a tragic incident that shocked the country and its leadership.
PM Modi, BJP president J P Nadda, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have all expressed grief over the incident.
After five weeks of lockdown, migrant workers' patience ran out and so did the money, which forced them to leave Mumbai on bicycles.
Mohammed Shami has also set up food distribution centres for the poor migrants near his house in Sahaspur, Uttar Pradesh.
Shyel Trehan, an alumna of the 2000 batch of the National Law School, was one of the organisers who managed this near impossible achievement.
The corona-fuelled lockdown having shattered their dreams, they are now walking, cycling and hitchhiking hundreds of miles under an unforgiving sun blazing down at over 40 degrees to reach their homes in an impoverished Bihar, where an uncertain future awaits them.
In the midst of all the self-flagellation at our collective inability to assist the country's migrants through their misery, at least one person (or a group of people) decided to do more than just chest beating. Anjuli Bhargava traces the tale of how a relief effort in Goa is transforming into a movement to drive long-term change.
"A group of agitated migrants resorted to vandalism by damaging vehicles on a national highway demanding arrangement from local authorities for return to their native states," a police official said.
Migrants are no longer sure if they would be able to live by Modi's mantra of "Jaan Bhi Jahaan Bhi".
The Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, Bhopal (IISER) is inviting applications from science students for its 5-year BS-MS programme and 4-year BS in Engineering Sciences and Economic Sciences.
Appearing impatient to return to their native places, migrant workers pelted stones at police in Surat district of Gujarat on Monday, leaving nearly a dozen personnel injured, one of them an IPS officer, and also held protests elsewhere during the coronavirus-enforced lockdown, officials said.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances