180 stranded migrants return home in chartered flight

Jharkhand on Thursday became the first Indian State to bring stranded labourers home in a chartered flight during the ongoing lockdown, a press communique from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said. About 180 migrant workers, stranded in Maharashtra during the lockdown, were flown to Ranchi in an AirAsia flight which landed at the Birsa Munda Airport here at 8.30am, the communique added.

However, the well-meaning initiative would not have been successful without the efforts of the alumni of National Law School (NLS), Bengaluru – a group of law grads who have reportedly gathered Rs.11 lakh via crowdfunding so far to help migrant labourers during the ongoing crisis. These law grads approached the Maharashtra government and Jharkhand government to execute their plan of flying stranded migrants home. 

Chief Minister Hemant Soren took to microblogging website Twitter on Thursday to thank the alumni of NLS for their efforts. “I thank the alumni of NLS for their humane gesture. I hope that their actions will encourage many more individuals and groups to help people in need,” Soren said.

All the 180 odd passengers, including children, underwent medical screening soon after landing at the Ranchi airport on Thursday, officials said. They were served breakfast and sent to their respective districts in special buses, which the Government referred to as Samman Rath (homage chariot).  Migrants from at least 12 districts returned in this flight, officials from the CMO said. Social distancing norms were maintained in the buses by which they were sent to their respective districts, officials added.

As per the information shared by the CMO, at least 41 of these migrants are from Hazaribag, 29 from Giridih, 28 from Simdega,16 from Ranchi, and 11 from Koderma. Besides, three migrants were from East Singhbhum, one from Gumla, eight from West Singhbhum, five from Chatra, and two from Garhwa. 

At a time when migrant workers are reportedly covering miles on foot to reach home, this development is one of the rare positive happenings for migrants in India. Over a dozen Jharkhand migrants have died in a road accident in Uttar Pradesh while returning home during the lockdown, while many have fallen prey to COVID-19 infection.

More than 50 per cent of the total COVID-19 cases reported in the tribal state so far are that of migrant workers who returned home, said health officials. According to National Health Mission (NHM), at least 437 cases of COVID-19 infection have surfaced in Jharkhand so far, and 252 of them are migrant workers who returned to their home state after May.