Home Ministry says migrant people must be quarantined for minimum period of 14 days

Centre has asked state governments and Union Territory administrations to effectively seal state and district borders to stop movement of migrant workers. It has ordered to ensure adequate arrangement of temporary shelters and provisions of food and other facilities for poor and needy people stranded due to lockdown announced in view of COVID -19 outbreak.

 

In its fresh directive, the Home Ministry said, the migrant people, who have moved out to reach their home states, must be kept in the nearest shelters by the concerned states and quarantined after proper screening for a minimum period of 14 days. The Ministry has also directed the employers including industry, shops and commercial establishments to make payment of wages of their workers on the due date without any deduction.

 

The landlords of workers have also been ordered not to demand rent for



a period of one month. It has been warned that action will be taken if any landlord forces labourers and students to vacate their premises. 

Yesterday, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba and Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla held meeting with state chief secretaries and DGPs through video conferencing.

 

In the meeting, it was noted that, by and large, there has been effective implementation of the lockdown guidelines across all States and UTs and essential supplies have also been maintained. Terming the movement of a large number of migrant workers to reach their home towns as a violation of the lockdown, the Home Ministry asserted that District Magistrate, Superintendent of Police and DCP will be personally liable for implementation of the direction of the Centre  and lockdown measures.