Telangana labourers sneaking into Gadchiroli through Maoist dens

Nagpur: Migrant labourers from three districts of Telangana are sneaking into Gadchiroli district through forested stretches and swimming across two rivers, Pranhita and Godavari, leaving the Gadchiroli administration in a quandary.
With most of the 25 police check posts on the roads, the labourers are finding it easy to move into Gadchiroli from Telangana, a Covid-19 hotspot.
Gadchiroli is still in the green zone, means not a single Covid-19 case has been reported from the district. So, the administration has decided to draw attention of collectors of Asifabad, Mancherial and Bhulapalli districts in Telangana regarding the migrant labourers illegally crossing the state borders through the highly sensitive Maoist-affected zones.
The district shares a 136km border with Telangana, 571km with Chhattisgarh, 155km with Chandrapur, 10km with Bhandara and 83km with Gondia. It’s learnt, police are compelled to work under heightened threat from Maoists guerrillas along the Telangana and Chhattisgarh borders.
Gadchiroli collector Deepak Singla is disappointed with the alleged ignorance of the administration in the three Telangana districts. “These labourers returning to Gadchiroli are working for chilli traders in Telangana. These poor people are risking their lives by trying to cross the rivers along with women and children. There is also a fear of viral spread,” said the collector.
Singla added that the state has already taken up the issue of inter-state migrant movement at the highest level. Singla said the village team of district administration is sending feedback about movement of migrant labourers, who are often sighted crossing through forested stretches and villages.
“We have already quarantined around 600-700 migrant labourers at Sironcha and another 200-300 at Aheri,” the collector said.
SP Shailesh Balkawade said that four offences have been registered earlier this week against 34 migrant workers. “We have already asked the police volunteers in villages, sarpanchs and other associates to share information about migrant labourers,” he said adding that it is not possible to seal borders in the forested patch.
Balkawade said the migrant labourers are immediately apprehended by police once information is received. “Police conduct screening and immediately send them to institutional quarantine once they are caught. Villagers are not allowing outsiders to enter their villages,” the SP said.
Balkawade also said maintaining Gadchiroli a green zone is a major challenge now as it is hemmed between two hotspots — Telangana and Nagpur. “There is high alert along borders of Chandrapur, Gondia and Bhandara, hence chances of migrants illegally entering Gadchiroli from there is lesser,” he said.