Jharkhand seeks permission for special flights to bring back stranded workers
May 21, 2020
Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], May 21 : Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has written to Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking permission to run chartered flights to Leh and north-eastern States to bring back the distressed workers.
"I would urge you to give us the permission to run charted flights to Leh and north-eastern States so that distressed workers be brought back to their motherland with dignity," said Soren in the letter, dated May 20, the Home Minister.
"While executing the evacuation exercise, we learnt that nearly 200 labourers of Jharkhand are stuck in the difficult terrain of Ladakh. Similarly, around 450 such workers are stranded in north-eastern states. Due to the difficult terrain of these states, it is extremely difficult to evacuate them by train or bus," reads the letter.
The letter further adds: "One of the better viable solutions can be lifting (them) by air. This is not possible in the present circumstances because plying of service and chartered flights have been prohibited by the lockdown orders issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)."
The letter also stated that the Jharkand Government had also made a similar request to the MHA asking for permission to run a charter flight to Andaman and Nicobar island.
"We are yet to hear on this. This permission may also be expedited," Chief Minister Soren has stated in the letter.
The nationwide lockdown has been extended to May 31, albeit with some relaxations.
