the goan I network
VASCO
Thousands of stranded non-Goans gathered at the Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) building since the wee hours of Monday to submit their details to the Dy Collector’s office, to enable them return to their native places in other states.
The crowd was so huge that police rushed to the site and ensured that they maintain social distancing.
After social distancing was maintained, the queue of non-Goans eager to register their documents to travel back home was so huge that the entire MMC building was circled in two lines.
As many as 2,351 names were registered by the MMC on Monday itself and there could be more people visiting the MMC in the next few days.
The non-Goans were later informed that the forms could be collected through the MMC chief officer’s chamber.
Sources said confusion prevailed among non-Goans, including migrant workers, amid rumours that there was limited time to submit their documents and only the first few hundreds would be allowed to leave the State by trains.
“We are very confused and just want to go home. Initially, we were sent to the railway station, then to the Dy Collector’s office and even to the South Goa Collector’s office. Since some of us are not well educated, we find it difficult to email or even fill up forms,” said a non-Goan at the site.
“There were rumours that only those who submit forms in the next few days would be allowed to travel since there are limited trains and trains can only run with 50% capacity, because of social distancing norms. Hence, we arrived as early as 5 am and stayed here waiting for the office to open,” he added.
When contacted, MMC Chief Officer Gaurish Shankhwalkar said there was huge rush of people since early Monday morning. “We have been directed to accept names of non-Goan people, presently living in the municipality, who want to return to their native states. We have also been given an app where we have to enter their details, including the place of travel, destination district and State. We have collected details of 2,351 people and have fed the date in the app with the help of MMC staff,” said Shankhwalkar. “We initially began feeding their names and details directly on the app but it was time-consuming and there was a rush of people. We then decided to make a format and fill their details and keep it with us.”
“Some people who could fill the format with their details submitted it to the MMC, while MMC staff wrote names and details of those who could not fill the forms. The staff are now feeding the app with details of these people.”
“We have to enter their present ward numbers as well along with other details and the process to feed in the data began in the morning and finished by late evening,” said Shankhwalkar.
