The State government with the help of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation has begun transporting 4,641 stranded agricultural migrant labourers from Guntur to various places in Kurnool district and the first batch of 159 buses arrived on Wednesday morning. This one the biggest passenger transport operations during the COVID-19 lockdown period.
All the migrant labourers were seated in the bus along with their luggage conforming to the ‘social distancing’ norms and buses with twin drivers began their journey on Tuesday night from various mandals in Guntur district and will go back to Guntur on Wednesday to bring the second batch of labourers, Kurnool RTC Regional Manager T. Venkataramam told The Hindu.
Operation return
“This operation will continue for four consecutive days and all the labourers stranded in 15 mandals of Guntur district will be sent to their village in 24 mandals of Kurnool district,” he added. The second driver will drive the buses back to Guntur.
Meticulous planning was done to bring back these migrant labourers, who usually go for agriculture activity in the Rabi season that ends mid-April, but they got stranded due to the lock down. “We chose all the labourers in ‘Green Zone’ mandals of Guntur district, ensured they were screened for health and that they belonged to the Green Zone mandals of the destination district,” said B.C. Corporation Executive Director M. Sireesha, who coordinated the operation.
Bunching and boarding
Bunching of people from various places was done in specific buses depending on the destination, she said. With a cut-off date of April 20, majority of the migrant labourers in Prathipadu (823), Pedakurapadu (302) and Medikonduru (597) and 12 other mandals were prepared for shifting to Kosigi (1,468), Kowthalam (673) and Adoni (266) and 21 others. While 990 of them came from Sattenapalli, 512 came from Achampeta mandal.
Asked about the future of these migrants, Ms. Sireesha said Zilla Parishad CEO Venkata Subbaih, along with Labour Commissioner worked as a team and Project Director DWMA Murali would now provide work under Employment Guarantee Scheme till they find some work.
