To The President of India,
Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi - 110004. <[email protected] <https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/h/1po4anncxn1zw/?&cs=wh&v=b&[email protected]> > *Subject: The Desperate Plight of the Migrant Workers in the wake of COVID-19 Lockdown and Dire Need for Immediate Remedial Intervention* Respected Sir, We, the udersigned, have come to learn via reports by various media outlets, and other sources, that hundreds of thousands of migrant workers have, in the wake of the sudden enforcing of the nationwide lockdown, been desperately trying to return to their homes from their places of work and too many are stuck up in different states of India in extremely miserable conditions, without food and shelter. Many more perhaps remain stuck up where they had already been, in broadly similar situations. With the utterly menacing COVID-19 pandemic as the backdrop, this has given rise to a frightening scenario. Reports have already appeared as regards tens of deaths out of hunger and exhaustion, and even road accident. We, therefore, respectfully put forward the demand that these workers be treated with dignity and provided with food and adequate shelter wherever they are. As per official claims, such arrangements have already been made. But, reports from grounds underline the severe inadequacy of and large gaps in such arrangements, despite various grassroots and civil society organisations coming forward and playing even larger roles than the official machineries in a number of states. *Under the given circumstances, we recognise that it is the obligation of the respective state governments, duly backed up by the Central government, to provide for food, water, soap, medicine etc. and adequate shelters with toilet facilities - where the norms of physical distancing can be realistically followed, for the stuck up migrant workers*. *We, therefore, further demand that each state government must, immediately, set up monitoring committees comprised of both official members, entrusted with the task of looking after, and members from the civil society organisations already engaged in relief work or with issues concerning migrant workers.Various government and private buildings, as required, may be temporarily taken over for this purpose.If necessary, temporary shelters must, additionally, be built.* *We also demand that the families of these workers who are left behind in their home states must also be adequately taken care of, overseen by appropriate monitoring committees - constituted on the lines as sketched out above.* *The same should, with necessary modifications, apply also to those who have, somehow, been able to reach back home but have, now, no means of livelihood.* *These arrangements must continue till normalcy is restored.* *This is required just not to save the lives of these toiling people, who used to meaningfully contribute to the running of the national economy till the very other day, but also to ensure success in halting or, at least, significantly slow down the constantly accelerating spread of the dreaded disease so that the healthcare infrastructure in place does not get overwhelmed and, thereby, a huge catastrophe is averted.* *We, hereby, humbly request you to personally look into the matter and suitably advise both the Central government and the state governments so that these measures are implemented at the soonest.* Sincerely yours *Gautam Sen*, Social Activist, Kolkata *Arvind Ghosh*, Social Activist, Nagpur *Sukla Sen*, Peace Activist, Mumbai *G.G. Parikh* (Veteran freedom fighter), Janata weekly, Mumbai *Teesta Setalvad*, Journalist, civil rights activist, educationist Mumbai *Ram Puniyani*, Chair, Center for Study of Society and Secularism Mumbai *Amitadyuti Kumar*, Working President, APDR, West Bengal *Sujato Bhadra*, Human Rights Activist, West Bengal *Ritu Dewan*, Vice President,Indian Society of Labour Economics Visiting Professor, Institute for Human Development President, Indian Association for Women's Studies (2014-17) Mumbai *Dr Walter Fernandes* Senior Fellow, North Eastern Social Research Centre, Guwahati *Subhendu Dasgupta*, Former Member of Faculty, University of Calcutta *Miratun Nahar*, Retired Professor, Educationist and Writer, Kolkata *Amit Roychowdhury*, Ph.D Professor & HoD, Aerospace Engineering & Applied Mechanics, Indian Institute of Engineering Science & Technology, Shibpur, Howrah *KALYANI MENON-SEN*, Feminist Learning Partnerships, Gurgaon *Kamayani Bali Mahabal*, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, Mumbai *Harish Pujari*, Gen. Secretary, Otis Employees Union, Mumbai '*Pothe Ebar Namo Sathi*' initiative, West Bengal *Sankar Ray*, Veteran journalist, Kolkata *Sajal Roychowdhury*, Editor, Kolkata *Jyoti Punwani*, Freelance journalist, Mumbai *Nilanjan Dutta*, Freelance journalist, Kolkata *Pranab Kanti Basu*, Prof. (Retd.), Visva-Bharati *Malay Sen*, Retd. Professor, North Bengal University *Francis Parmar*, Anand, Gujarat *Santanu Chacraverti*, DISHA, Kolkata *Ramakrishnan*, Academic Advisor, TIPS Global, Coimbatore *Subhasis Bandyopadhyay*, Associate Professor, IIEST, Shibpur, Howrah *Nandini Dhar*, Associate Professor, OP Jindal Global University *Sitangsu Sekhar*, Editor, Film Director & Activist *Anwesa Bhattacharya*, Project research scientist, IITB *Satyabrata Mitra*, Researcher, Kolkata *Shiladitya Mal*, Researcher, Kolkata *Souvik Ghosh*, Researcher, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal *Chiranjib Paul*, Journalist *Krishna Mira*, Activist, Kolkata *Kalpana Sen*, Social Activist, Kolkata *Arjun Sengupta*, Trade Union Activist, Kolkata *Dilip Kumar Hota*, Activist, Shramik Mukti Dal, Pune *Sohini Roy*, Social Activist, Kolkata *Ankur Roychowdhury*, Theater Activist, Kolkata *Afreen Khan*, Advocate, High Court of Bombay *Anamika Sarkar*, Political Activist, Kolkata *Bitan Bhowmik*, Social Activist, Kolkata *Pradip Chatterjee*, Kolkata *Sasanka Dev*, Kolkata *Sulagna Paul*, Teacher, West Bengal *Partha Kayal*, Teacher, Kolkata *Brotee Mukhopadhyay*, Poet, Kharagpur, West Bengal *Somdeb Lahiri*, Ahmedabad *Dhruva Sen*, Bengaluru *Chitto Mukherjee*, Bardhaman Town, West Bengal *Prasit Das*, Kolkata *Jaideep Dharadhar*, Mumbai *Prakash Mahadeo Raut*, Worker, Nagpur *Arun Kumar Sinha*, Technologist, Kolkata *Partha Nag*, Retired, Kolkata *Pramod Gupt*a, West Bengal *Kajari Roychowdhury*, Kolkata *Bappaditya Ganguly*, Kolkata *Shamik Ghosh*, Kolkata *Shamik Roychowdhury*, Kolkata *Somnath Bhattacharya*, Retired central government employeea, Kolkata *Shyamali Bhattacharya*, West Bengal *Bikash Paul*, Political Activist, Purba Bardhaman District, West Bengal *Mitali Sen*, Kolkata *Kajal Mukherjee*, Social Activist, West Bengal *Malay Kundu*, Kolkata *Bikash Sen*, Dhanbad *Sankar Sarkar*, Purba Bardhaman District, West Bengal *Dilip Sen*, Kolkata *Joy Bose*, Kolkata *Mohammad Imran* *Najid Hussain* Bear, DE 19701, USA *Chukka Srinivas* San Jose, California, USA -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. 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