38,000 cane workers return to Marathwada after checks

PUNE: District collector Naval Kishore Ram said he has coordinated with his colleague in Marathwada to send 38,000 migrant workers, mostly cane cutters, back to their villages.
The workers were from Beed and Ahmednagar and their contractors had hired trucks to transport them. The journey began two days ago.
Over 50,000 workers were stranded in Pune and their inter-district shifting was started after coordination between the respective collectors, Ram said.The Centre will have the final word on workers who have to be transported to other states, he added.
“These cane workers were stuck at different places in the district and were put up in temporary centres. As per instructions from the state government, the collectors coordinated and arrangements were made to send them back to their villages,” he said.
Workers going back to their villages have been advised home quarantine. The decision was taken collectively by the Maharashtra state disaster management, help and rehabilitation and revenue departments.
On Saturday, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar had said if the collectors coordinated the movement can be arranged as the lockdown may be extended.
The state government had decided that one lakh migrant sugar cane workers would return to their villages amid the lockdown subject to medical tests. The remaining will be sent back to their districts when the respective district administration agrees to coordinate the movement, a senior government official.
There were 1.31 lakh sugar cane workers living in temporary shelters provided on the premises of 38 sugar factories in the state. The lockdown, which stranded migrant workers due to a ban on movement, led to sporadic outpouring of anger.
Factories were told to get the workers and their kin tested and certified, and inform authorities, including gram panchayats, and obtain requisite permissions for their safe return.
The factories’ administrations were also responsible for the workers and their livestock reaching their villages. They coordinated with the district collectors and gram panchayats.