TMC team visits Wayanad; Bengal govt offers to bring stranded labourers home
Times of India | 4 August 2024
Kolkata: Bengal govt would bring home 242 migrant labourers from the state who are stuck in Wayanad, if they wished to return.
On Saturday, a Trinamool delegation of Rajya Sabha MPs Saket Gokhale and Sushmita Dev visited the affected in Wayanad’s Meppadi and spoke to the inured in the hospital.
Gokhale posted on X: “Firefighting this colossal catastrophe in Wayanad needs huge strength.We met the district collector for a briefing. We assured them of the support of our leader CM Mamata Banerjee.”
A distraught Dev later said, “Total devastation... homes, schools, shops have been washed away. Families have been separated, bodies missing. So many were injured. (It is) heartbreaking.”
Trinamool, meanwhile, wrote on X: “The Bengal government is ensuring that migrant workers stranded in landslide-hit Wayanad, Kerala receive all the support they need. CM Mamata Banerjee is leading efforts to bring them safely back to Bengal. In their hour of need, we stand united and strong!” The party also said that the delegation of MPs was in Wayanad “to meet the affected families and let them know that we and Bengal are with them.”
On Friday, state labour minister Moloy Ghatak said in assembly that all migrant labourers from the state were safe. “We have established contact with 200, and are trying to speak to the rest,” he said. If the labourers wished to return, the state would arrange for transportation and look after their well-being, Ghatak added.
The labourers are from Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Darjeeling, West Midnapore, Birbhum and Murshidabad. Over 3 lakh labourers from Bengal work in Kerala.