Coronavirus lockdown: Yogi govt arranges 1000 buses for stranded migrant workers

Yogi Adityanath led Uttar Pradesh government has arranged for 1,000 buses to transport migrant workers who are stranded on the border district due to a nationwide lockdown, an official spokesperson stated on Saturday.

Officials of the Transport Department, drivers and conductors were approached on Friday to lend a helping hand to the people who were stranded in Noida, Bulandshahar, Noida and Aligarh, he said.

"Till late in the night, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was busy issuing instructions for arranging buses for the purpose," the spokesperson said, further adding that the chief minister also instructed officials to make arrangements for food and water for such people.

On Saturday, senior police official arrived at the Charbagh bus station in Lucknow to make sure that those arriving there were given food and water.

The buses later left for Kanpur, Ballia, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Faizabad, Basti, Pratapgarh, Sultanpur, Amethi, Rae Bareli, Gonda, Etawah, Bahraich and Shravasti.

Uttar Pradesh DGP Hitesh Chandra Awasthi and Lucknow Police Commissioner Sujit Kumar Pande were personally there at the bus station to oversee the arrangements, the spokesperson stated.

The 21 day lockdown promulgated from Thursday in an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus has given rise to a mass exodus of migrant workers from cities in several states to their villages.

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