Satish Aditya
Motihari : As the migrants workers’ crisis continues to unfold, 12 migrants labourers, all residents of village Singaha village, on May 18, 2020, staged dharna on Motihari-Areraj road near Gaighat under Harsiddhi police station in East Champaran District burning garbage and tyres on road disrupting the traffic for several hours demanding their thermal screening and admission to the quarantine centre at Harsidhi.
Ramu Ji, one of the migrant workers, told this scribe that they reached their village Singaha on May 16, 2020, after walking for 15 days from Chandigarh but were not allowed by their co-villagers to enter the village without medical check-up. They were asked to go quarantine centre at Harsiddhi. They met Circle Officer (CO) and Block Development Officer (BDO), Harsiddhi, with some villagers seeking admission to the quarantine centre but they refused to admit them there for want of space. The labourers claimed that
they were sleeping under a tree near their village for the last three days.
SDM, Areraj, Dhirendra Kumar Mishra, said that the aforesaid migrant workers had not returned by train and since they had no symptom of coronavirus, they were asked to stay in home quarantine but they were not ready to stay at home.
East Champaran DM, Shirshat Kapil Ashok, said that there is no guideline for home quarantine for labourers and it is only for students. Yet, all these migrants have been lodged at the quarantine centre. CO, Satish Kumar, said that these migrant labourers did not
approach him during the last three days and when he was informed by SDPO, Areraj, Jyoti Prakash, on May 18, 2020, he rushed to the dharna venue and all migrant labourers were taken to the quarantine centre. “We are running 8 quarantine centre under Harsiddhi block,” he added.
SDPO, Areraj, Jyoti Prakash, said that he persuaded the migrant labourers to call off their dharna and informed the
CO, Harsiddhi,after which all the labourers were taken to Gandhi School Quaranntine centre and screened. He admitted that the labourers have alleged that the CO and BDO initially did not facilitate their entry at the quarantine centre.
According to a press release issued by East Champaran District Control Room, 27,194 migrant labourers have been accomodated at
371 quarantine centre at block and panchayat levels in the district. Seventeen migrant workers had tested positive to COVID-19ntiil date.