India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, MARCH 29— The Welfare Party of India on Sunday criticised Minister Narendra Modi “for creating a man-made crises” which resulted in the exodus of migrant workers and warned of “riots for food” if not properly addressed.
“The unprecedented announcement of 21-day lockdown by the Prime Minister has created a situation of panic amongst the migrant workers who violated the government’s directions and are walking a great distance to their homes exposing themselves and others to the impending danger,” said National President of Welfare Party Dr SQR Ilyas and held the central government responsible for this “self-inflicted crises.”
Dr Ilyas charged that PM Modi is “not aware of the ground realities” and makes quick announcements with little consideration towards the consequences.
Through his address to the nation on March 24, PM Modi had announced 21-day lockdown from that midnight in order to stop spread of the COVID-19 or Coronavirus in the country. All means of public transportation – buses, trains, metros and flights were suspended till April 14.
However, in the last three days, several thousand migrants were seen marching out of Delhi on highways towards their home states.
While supporting the lockdown, Dr Ilyas alleged that the government didn’t do any planning to provide food and shelter to the daily wagers.
“While the decision to quarantine was necessary as there is no cure available yet to the coronavirus but there was no planning and proper implementation to provide food, shelter and transport to the daily wagers who lost their livelihood due to the lockdown,” said Dr Ilyas.
He also said that the emergency relief package worth Rs 1.7 lakh crore, announced by Finance Minister, is “insufficient and there is a need to reach out to the poor.”
The Coronavirus pandemic, Dr Ilyas said, has “exposed the poor healthcare system in our country with inadequate number of doctors paramedical staff, beds, ill-equipped hospitals and grossly inadequate number of ventilators.”
Meanwhile, the number of Coronavirus cases has gone up to 978 in the country – while 867 are still active patients, 86 cured and discharge and 25 others have died.
Dr Ilyas condemned the police for beating the hungry and the destitute and urged the government to give strict orders to them for desisting from employing such unethical methods.
Welfare Party Demands
The party has made the following demands to the government:
*Provide doctors and paramedical staff with adequate security and safety aids
* Look after the welfare of all citizens including the poor and the marginalised sections
*Develop safe transport mechanism to help the migrant labourers to reach home
* Release food grains from the godowns of Food Corporation of India and provide to all states and Union Territories for affected people
*Provide food, accommodation in makeshift camps, healthcare and a package of allowance or stipend to those migrant labourers stranded in other states.
* Allow voluntary organizations to undertake the relief work to ensure efficiency and transparency
*Engage the volunteers and provide them with curfew pass and safety equipment to reach out to all migrant labourers/poor affected
* Right to health be upheld as an integral part of right to life and as a constitutional obligation of the State to provide good health facilities to all its citizens
* Allocate 5% of GDP for public healthcare in the country
