Two-thirds of migrant workers still don’t have access to government ration: Survey -Shagun Kapil

-Down to Earth

The survey also reveals several other shocking facts that fly in the face of government claims on migrants.

Eighty per cent migrant workers surveyed by Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN), do not have access to government ration two months after the COVID-19 lockdown indicating food distress among stranded migrants to be as high as the first phase of the lockdown.

The results are based on 821 distress calls received by SWAN between May 15 and June 1, 2020, corresponding to 5,911 migrant workers from across the country.

The report also shows that out of those who left for their homes, 44 per cent took buses while 39 per cent managed to get on a Shramik special.

While 11 per cent took trucks, lorries and other such modes of transport, six per cent made the journey on foot. Since April 29, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has issued seven different travel orders for migrant workers.

The report termed the ministry’s measures a “maze of obfuscating orders that have created more chaos, destruction, and deaths”.

Travel arrangements were abysmal and this meant many migrants decided to escape the distress on cycles or in cramped lorries and many decided to walk thousands of kilometres, it added.

“The travel travails of workers further underscore the trauma that they have been subjected to by the state machinery,” the report said.

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