STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has constituted a committee to organize the effort to bring back people in other states who are stranded due to the lockdown. APCC general secretaries, Pankaj Borbora and Ranjan Bora have been appointed as convenor and chairman of the committee respectively. The development follows Congress President Sonia Gandhi's decision that every Pradesh Congress Committee would bear the cost for the rail travel of workers stranded outside their respective States. According to Borbora, "The need of an opposition party to undertake such a measure has revealed this government's disregard for the concerns of India's migrant worker population who face an unprecedented existential crisis due to the lockdown. At a time when a majority of these workers are out of work, the exploitative character of this government has become exposed through its decision to compel poor people to incur costs by themselves for homebound rail travel. This APCC sub-committee would function as a help desk and shall keep close contact with different States, AICC COVID Control Room and collect a database of the stranded people".
In order to coordinate the effort with the State Government, a three member delegation of APCC comprising Pankaj Borbora, Ranjan Bora and Kalyan Gogoi had called on Assam Chief Secretary, Kumar Sanjay Krishna last week, a release stated. "While we have undertaken to bear costs of rail travel of the concerned people, the success of our effort would also require the government's cooperation as it administers critical logistics. We are pleased with the Chief Secretary's response who has assured all help and has forwarded our memorandum to ADGP G.P Singh who is the nodal officer for inter-state transportation of stranded people," said Borbora.