Hyderabad: In a kind gesture, Telangana Congress leaders arranged bus transportation for 2,800 migrant workers to their native places in Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.
“Congress president Sonia Gandhi has directed us to help the migrant workers in every possible manner. Following her directives, so far we arranged 28 buses with each having a capacity of 50 passengers to send the migrant workers to their homes in northern States,” informed Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin. However, he clarified that the workers were willing to bear the minimum cost of travel. However, neither they were getting required permissions nor tour operators were willing to provide them buses. “As I own a travel company, Nizam Cabs, I provided required number of buses and arranged necessary permissions,” he said.
Nizamuddin said that lakhs of migrant workers have been facing severe hardship ever since the imposition of lockdown. They have no sources of income and the help promised to them by the government by way of free rice and cash did not reach all the deserving beneficiaries. “They are in some kind of depression. They lost all their hope. They apparently realised that life will not be the same again post-lockdown. They simply wanted to return to their homes at any cost. Most of the migrant workers we tried to help were staying in Hakimpet and Tolichowki area. They had registered their names with the local authorities. Since there was no clarity on arrangement of trains, we arranged luxury buses for their safe return to their home,” he informed.
Meanwhile, Hyderabad City Congress Committee Minorities Department Chairman Sameer Waliullah, who is supplying food, vegetables and ration kits among nearly 3,000 people every day since the lockdown on March 22, joined the efforts and arranged drinking water, rice, Dal and other essential items for passengers in all 28 buses to enable them to cook their own food during the journey. Biscuit packets and other snacks were also arranged for the children. “The migrant workers tried to wear a smile on their faces when boarding the buses to leave for their homes. But they could not hide pain and agony they suffered during the last 45-46 days of lockdown. They were happy over receiving help from us. But they were also pained at having lost their pride and self-respect due to the unplanned lockdown by the government,” Sameer Waliullah said.
NSUI leader Arham Adil, along with his team, coordinated the entire operation of assembling of migrant workers at the alighting point in Tolichowki, their boarding and beginning of their journey.
The fleet of 14 buses each on Saturday and Sunday had left for Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh and would reach their destinations in a day or two.”We are in constant touch with the migrant workers and our drivers over telephone to ensure that they do not face any inconvenience during their travel,” Nizamuddin said.
Nizamuddin informed that some more buses were being arranged to help migrant workers leave their homes. He thanked the DCP West Zone, Inspectors of Golconda and Banjara Hills Police Stations and other officials for their support and said those officials did an exemplary job in handling the crisis situation.
SOURCE (NSS)
