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Maharashtra has ferried 70,000+ migrants back home by buses free of cost

MSRTC has also been deploying buses for those arriving by international flights to Mumbai to reach their destination in various districts across the state.

Maharashtra has ferried 70,000+ migrants back home by buses free of cost
SHARES


Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, migrants have been adversely affected. Due to the lockdown migrants do not have any income and have been left stranded away from home. However, coming to their rescue, Maharashtra government with its MSRTC buses has started ferrying them back home free of cost. As per a Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) official, by Wednesday evening, they had ferried a total 72,956 migrants, with 27,525 migrants being ferried on Wednesday alone in close to 1,200 buses.

An official told TOI that they now plan to touch the 1 lakh-figure by the weekend and will be ensuring that maximum people get transported by their buses close to the state borders of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Karnataka. He added that when the service had been started, they were transporting 8,000 immigrants on average and now the number of passengers has doubled.

While taking the migrants back home is a priority for the state, they are careful to ensure that they do not fall prey to the outbreak. The state buses have been following the procedure of keeping a logbook which consists of traveller's name, his/her address where they are headed to, their profession, and the person's body temperature at the time the person is boarding the bus. The logbook is then handed over to the nodal officer at the state border.

MSRTC managing director Shekhar Channe informed that they are only running buses between designated points and have been dropping the passengers only at the state borders. He stated that if there are stops en route, it is only at the bus depots that have been sanitised. As per Channe, they are ensuring that social distancing is being followed and every passenger is wearing a mask.

Meanwhile, the transport wing has also been deploying buses for those arriving by international flights to Mumbai to reach their destination in various districts across the state.

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