Former Union Minister P. Chinta Mohan on Saturday said that the Central and State governments should immediately respond to the plight of migrant workers across the country and rescue them from starvation, failing which there could be a possibility of agitations erupting as a form of backlash against the lockdown.
Mr. Chinta Mohan said that the death of migrant workers due to starvation and exhaustion during transit and at railway stations was deplorable. He said that loss of unemployment and shortage of ration could escalate starvation deaths and suicides in the country, if the governments do not respond to the crisis. Mr. Chinta Mohan said that the poor and downtrodden sections were taking private loans at steep interest rates of up to 40%.
He alleged that authorities of the Tirupati Municipal Corporation were fleecing over 15,000 shop owners to pay taxes or vacate the premises, despite a relaxation in tax collections. He said that if the officials failed to stop collecting taxes, a public agitation would ensue.
