Harvard Study Lauds Yogi Govt For Management Of Migrant Crisis During Covid-19 Pandemic

A study by Harvard University and shared by the Uttar Pradesh government says that the Yogi Adityanath government handled the migrant crisis 'most adroitly' when unforeseen challenges caused during the time of coronavirus pandemic took a significant toll on people globally.

An official spokesman said a study conducted by Harvard University highlighted the humanitarian crisis of migrant labourers that unfolded and focused on how efficiently the state government handled the migrant crisis.

The spokesman said the Yogi government worked towards the multi-fold agenda of providing transportation facilities, delivering ration kits, and running healthcare centres for migrants.

The migrant labourers mainly relied on daily wages for survival and the state government announced schemes to provide free ration to them.

The Harvard report dealt at length with the Yogi government 'model' as to how the economy of migrants was taken care of through a combined mechanism of prevention from the pandemic, sustenance of their families, employment arrangements along with skill mapping and other logistics.

The state government formulated a plan to ensure the safe return of migrants and create employment opportunities.

The state government, in consonance with the Central government, took a holistic approach towards addressing the crisis, the study said.

Besides providing buses and train services for stranded migrants, the state government also arranged transportation facilities for state travel and made efforts to publicise the schemes of the government that can help migrants in the time of such crisis.

The state government collaborated with the Indian railways and arranged 1,604 trains and brought back over 21 lakh migrants through Shramik trains.

This was almost 80 per cent of the total migrants who returned to the state.

The state government managed to bring back thousands of migrant workers from Delhi within a time span of 24 hours after the borders were sealed on March 28, 2020. Also, round-the-clock free buses were made available for migrants wanting to travel within the state.

The state government followed a three-step approach for outbreak prevention -- thermal screening, quarantine, and isolation.

The health department formed more than 90,000 screening teams to screen the migrants and other persons, their relatives, and acquaintances if they came in contact with them.

The state government also set up as many as 18,140 quarantine facilities as per the guidelines issued by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and a total of 15.15 lakh migrants were quarantined at different points in time. The third step was isolation and testing of the migrants with suggestive symptoms.

The study further appreciated that the state government also formulated long-term plans to build economic opportunities for migrants closer to home using existing schemes as well as by signing new MoUs. It also conducted skill mapping of the migrants in order to get suitable employment for them.