Covid lockdown: TDP lawmaker writes to Shah on stranded Andhraites

"On behalf of the families of Uttarandhra (North Andhra) fishermen and migrant labour, we thank you for your efforts in providing transport for thousands of fishermen suffering in Veraval, Gujarat due to the much-needed national lockdowns," Kinjarapu stated in the letter."I also bring your attention to the issue of some of the Andhra migrants of Gujarat being demanded money for their transport back home.

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Lok Sabha lawmaker Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah regarding "the plight of Andhra migrants" stranded in other states due to lockdown.

He urged Shah to coordinate the arrangement of transport facilities for these migrants to get them back home.

"On behalf of the families of Uttarandhra (North Andhra) fishermen and migrant labour, we thank you for your efforts in providing transport for thousands of fishermen suffering in Veraval, Gujarat due to the much-needed national lockdowns," Kinjarapu stated in the letter.

"I bring your attention to other groups of Andhra migrants mostly stuck in Maharashtra (near Mumbai), Tamil Nadu (close to Chennai port), and Telangana (in Hyderabad). While efforts are being made to contact them and ensure that they are given basic living conditions and regular rations, they have expressed a yearning to return to the safety of their homes in Andhra Pradesh," he said.

The TDP MP urged that the Andhra Pradesh government must be ordered to ensure necessary quarantining and randomized multiple testing to minimize the threat of community transmission of the coronavirus.

"I also bring your attention to the issue of some of the Andhra migrants of Gujarat being demanded money for their transport back home. Considering the depleted state of their savings in the last 4 weeks, it will be inhuman to make such demands. I urge the government to take up these issues and underwrite the costs of such transport. I look forward to a prompt and fair response from your ministry in ensuring smooth transport and in planning further such transport from other states," read the letter.

Kinjarapu said that the COVID-19 pandemic is not just affecting people's health but also wrecking them economically, mentally, and at many other levels. "We must continue to fight this together if we are to survive with the least possible damage to our people's lives and finances," he said.

( With inputs from ANI )