Chennai Corporation has started collecting details of migrant workers at its community hall at C.P. Ramaswamy Road, Alwarpet to make travel arrangements to send them to their native places.
There are around 52 migrant workers at this shelter, who belong to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and other parts of North India.
Since the past few weeks, these workers have been sheltered here as all train and bus services were cancelled following lockdown.
Says a Corporation official, who manages this shelter, “We are collecting their names, and Aadhar number to facilitate their travel. However, we have not received any information on when and through what mode they will be ferried.”
“To make the travel arrangements easier, we will be bringing the migrant workers from our shelters at Karaneeswarar Pagoda Street and T.Nagar to this community hall,” he says.
The Corporation has also resumed ferrying daily wage labourers from its Mandaveli shelter to their native places within Tamil Nadu.
Says Vishanth, the Coordinator at Mandaveli Shelter, “The Corporation has arranged vans to ferry daily wage labourers at our shelter to their native places at Villupuram, Tiruchy, and Coimbatore. Today (May 5) some 7 were sent to their native places through Corporation arranged vehicles.”
He says that some daily wage earners at this shelter have also gone back to work. “As construction activities outside the containment zones have started across the city, the daily wage workers from our shelter who used to work at construction sites have gone back to work. People who were working as cooks at hotels have also left the shelter as restaurants are now operating to provide takeaways through the day.”
Some electricians and plumbers have also left to resume their work, he says.
