Congress District Co-ordination Committee Meeting with Deputy Commissioner of Rupnagar, Mohali
Rajnish Sareen
Mohali, May 12, 2020: MP from Shri Anandpur Sahib, Manish Tewari has said that he will demand from Railway Minister Piyush Goyal to extend the Shramik Special trains for Lok Sabha Constituency and also to give stoppage of trains to other stations during the journey. He was chairing a meeting of the District Level Co-ordination Committee of the Congress Party with the Deputy Commissioners of Rupnagar and Mohali regarding the return of migrant laborers to their home states. In this meeting held through video conferencing, apart from committee members, industries and party representatives, Co-ordinator Captain Sandeep Sandhu from the state Congress, Deputy Commissioner Sonali Giri and Girish Dayalan and other officials from District Rupnagar and Mohali were also present.
In a discussion with Railway Minister Piyush Goyal this evening, MP Tewari sought to increase the number of labor-specific trains for Sri Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha constituency by maximum extent and strengthen the coordination with the district administration of railway officials. Similarly, he would also insist on giving stoppages to other railway stations of the train during the journey, so that migrants from the concerned area can be accommodated in vacant seats when the number of passengers is reduced.
He said that on the instructions of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, the State Congress President Sunil Jakhar has constituted these committees to send migrant laborers safely to their homes and will solve the problems of migrants by co-ordinating with the state and central governments. Under the leadership of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, work is going on continuously to send the migrants by the Punjab Government to respective states. Similarly, the government is also focusing on improving the condition of industries, due to which many migrants have changed the idea of going back. While appealing to the migrants going home, they should return soon.
Earlier during the meeting, Deputy Commissioner Mohali Girish Dayalan complained about the number of trains and coordination with the railways. DC Mohali revealed that around one lakh migrants from the district have been registered, for which 5 trains have been run till now. However, due to the efforts of the Punjab government, many migrants have refused to return due to the industry moving back. But due to lack of trains and lack of coordination with the railways, there are problems.
Even the schedule of train schedule is given by the railways about 4 hours in advance, due to which the migrants have to face a lot of difficulties in bringing them from the respective areas and screening and sending them to the station. There is also a lot of confusion regarding the departure of passengers from Mohali or Sirhind.
Similarly, DC Rupnagar also pledged to send the migrants applying on behalf of the district administration back to their home states safely.
On behalf of industrialists, Yogesh Sagar, head of Mohali Industry Association, said that many industries have started work. Full attention is being paid to the laborers on their behalf, so that they do not face much problems here. But the exodus of workers in large numbers is a matter of concern for the industry, on which the government should take steps. He asked the district administration to get the information about their factories from the registered laborers, so that they can be encouraged not to return and those who want to go will be fully supported.
Capt Sandhu said that the railways should also seat passengers from other stations en route on empty seats in the train, so that more and more migrants get relief. While migrants from neighboring states can be sent by buses, as is happening for Jammu and Kashmir. This helps the people of states like Rajasthan, Haryana, etc.
Among others, S. Jagmohan singh Kang Former minister pb, Deepinder Singh Dhillon president DCC Mohali , Brinder Dhillon President Punjab Youth Congress, Pawan Dewan Chairman Punjab Large industrial Development Board, Vijay Sharma Tinku Chairman Distt Planning Board Mohali, Yadavindra Singh Kang Sr Vice Chairman Infotech, Kanwarbir Singh Sidhu president Distt Youth Congress Mohali, SDM’s Ropar Harjot kaur, Sri Chamkaur Sahib Mankamwal Singh, Nangal Harpreet Atwal and Sri Anandpur Sahib Kanu Aggarwal, Devi Dayal Garg, Mohali industries Association President Yogesh Sagar, Anurag Aggarwal and Sanjeev Garg were a part of the meeting.