Kolkata: The West Bengal government is planning to give some pocket money to migrant workers from the state, who are stranded at various places like Khar and Surat due to the ongoing Covid induced lockdown, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday.
Banerjee said she spoke to some groups of the stranded workers in Bandra and Khar. “They told me that have been given two kg rice each, but they don’t have the money to buy vegetables. So we want to give them some pocket money.
“If we can contact more such workers in Mumbai and Gujarat’s Surat, we will give them pocket money too. We can’t send the money from here. We will get them the amount through some local contacts there,” she said.
The Chief Minister said she called up Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and thanked him for helping the migrant workers from Bengal.
“They (Maharashtra government) are working in a crisis situation. If they need help from our side, we are ready,” Banerjee said.
Besides the migrant workers, other inhabitants of Bengal have also got stuck outside the state due to the lockdown.
“They are stranded in Surat, Delhi, Vellore, Chenani, Vrindavan. Many of them had gone due to health emergency. We are trying to help them also in a small way,” she said.
–IANS
