Subject to the carrying out of COVID-19 checkup, over 1.31 lakh sugarcane workers have been permitted to return to their homes amid the lockdown.
Mumbai| The Maharashtra government on Friday decided to permit over 1.31 lakh migrant sugarcane workers to return to their native villages, in the biggest evacuation plan within the State.
The only condition is that all the workers will go through checkup with regards to the COVID-19 outbreak, state Social Justice Minister Dhananjay Munde said on Friday.
1.31 lakh sugar factory workers are living in makeshift shelters rendered in the premises of 38 sugarcane factories in the state, while several others are stuck elsewhere, a statement from the minister’s office said.
Typically, Maharashtra sees migration by workers after Deepavali from drought-prone Marathwada, mainly Beed district, to work in the sugarcane fields of western Maharashtra. The season of working in the sugar fields lasts until March.
However, this year they have been helpless due to the countrywide lockdown. The sugar factories were ordered to give them all essentials, the incident in Bandra has forced the State govt to bend and form an intra-state evacuation plan.
The statement said those operating these factories will have to get workers and their kin tested and certified, and inform authorities, including gram panchayats, and then obtain requisite permissions for their safe return.
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Sugar mills will be responsible for transport and the necessary permissions for the travel of labourers. “The village heads (sarpanch) of the native villages of these workers will receive them and give a certificate for the same,” the notification said.
Welcoming the decision Social Justice Minister Dhananjay Munde, who hails from Beed, said, “It will ensure that they can now live with their families.”
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