It is often seen that some opposition parties, particularly the Congress unnecessarily raise hue and cry on the steps taken by the Union Government and to be specific – on the movement of the workers from one State to another. But the Union Government repeatedly asserts that it is leaving no stone unturned to ensure safety of the all countrymen. We are confronted with certain questions like – why the workers are allowed to traverse a long distance on foot. We have noted some States are taking measures to send vehicles to bring back their workers, students and patients who are stranded. We could view in the electronic media how the workers with their families are moving on foot along with certain others – throwing the protocol of social distancing to the wind. We could also learn how some of these workers move half-starved or fully starved. As the exercise taken by the Government is a Herculean task to ensure safety of all the people, naturally certain loopholes are bound to surface.
Just at that point of time, we came across the news about how 20 workers had to move out from Maharastra to their home state Madhya Pradesh and how out of sheer fatigue 16 of them fell asleep on the tracks of the Railways only to get crushed to death. A question comes – why Government of Madhya Pradesh failed to bring back their people. Everything said and done, we like to add that it is time we fought dreaded COVID-19 unitedly.
Ashok Bordoloi
Dibrugarh