Jharkhand government has decided to airlift 60 migrant workers stranded in Batalik- Kargil sector from Batalik in Leh. These workers were working in a BRO project and got stuck in the area after the coronavirus outbreak.
They reached out to Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Twitter on May 10 and urged him to assist them in travelling back to their native places. The CM then urged the local admin Ladakh administration to provide assistance and the state Control Room got in touch with the workers to get them registered on the state portal and App.
After CMs request, food rations were also being regularly provided to these workers by BRO.
This is how things unfolded
On May 12, Chief Secretary Jharkhand writes a letter to Union Home Secretary, seeking permission to allow the state government to airlift stranded workers from Andamans, Ladakh and Northeastern states, at its own expense.
No response received from Centre and on 20th May, the chief minister personally writes to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, again following up on the request to airlift workers from Ladakh, Andaman, and North eastern states.
No further word from the Centre on this and no acknowledgment of Centre. Meanwhile, a small team designated by the CM was in constant touch with workers to understand their everyday issues.
With 5 days gone and commercial air operations now being allowed by Central Government, CM Hemant Soren personally engaged on 26th May, entrusts the small team to work out all operational possibilities to work out a safe return of 60 Migrants from Dumka district stuck in Gorgodoh Village, Batalik in Kargil district, Leh.
Between 26-28th May, the team maps all details of workers, sets up operational coordination with concerned Chief of BRO Project Vijayak, the Saugat Biswas, Divisional Commissioner – UT Ladakh, local NGO workers & airlines operating commercial flights from Leh to Delhi and Delhi to Ranchi.
With active support from Div Com Ladakh & concerned BRO CO in charge, all 60 workers are checked, thermal screened and transported by BRO to Leh ( 6 hrs road journey ) on 28th May afternoon, and are in the transit camp.
The workers will be flying out by Spice Jet flight departing at 12 pm on 29th May from Leh, arriving in Delhi around 2 pm and further be flying to Ranchi by Indigo flight departing Delhi at 6 pm and reaching Ranchi 8 pm.
The CM was apprised of each & every step and all costs ( approx 8 lakh) to fly out the workers are being borne by State Government. He personally monitored the entire 48 hours of coordination.
Jharkhand CM has been at the forefront raising the issues of the safe return of migrant workers to the state. Around 3.5-4 lakh ( TBC) of approximate 7.5 lakh registered workers, have returned to the state and the State is working at all fronts to ensure no one is left behind and return by trains, buses & where necessary flights.
Jharkhand is now possibly the first state in the country to fly out Migrants from inaccessible place to Jharkhand bearing all its costs.
“The CM is personally perturbed with the deaths of migrant workers in the UP incident and later in sporadic incidents & had thus explored all opportunities & support from all quarters to get back other workers from Andaman, NE etc,” said a close aide of Hemant Soren.
He also said that two flights are being operationalised to get back around 320 workers from Andamans very soon.
Upon arrival in Ranchi, the workers are most likely to be received by CM himself at the airport / any senior Minister & senior officials and will be sent to Dumka by buses after the necessary screening.
