the goan I network
PANAJI
Mindful that an exodus of outstation workers could maim key sectors of the economy, the State administration is seemingly reluctant to accelerate their exit and is yet to outline a tangible plan on the ground to ferry the thousands who want to go back to their home States.
Construction, fisheries, tourism, mining and hospitality among others are key sectors of Goa's economy which are dependent on a significant number of outstation manpower and could be left tottering in the bid to restart operations post Lockdown if the leave.
Nearly 71,000 of them from across the country have already registered with the State administration their yearning to get back to their native states, since the MHA permitted inter-State travel for the purpose last week.
For the record, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant claimed on Sunday that his administration is engaging with Railway authorities to explore sending them back by "special trains".
However, top officials in the administration said it will be days before the plan to arrange for the travel of this outstation workforce back to their native States takes concrete shape.
In the fisheries sector, trawler owners are going out of their way to convince their workforce not to leave. They have just 26 days to ply their trade before the annual breeding season ban kicks in and operations could get severely dented if the workers leave.
Workers from states across India have registered with the government stating that they wish to return back to their home states. 3,000 Goans who are stranded in other states have also written to the state govt asking permission to come back.
Nearly 18,000 working class people from Karnataka, 17,000 from UP, 11,000 from Bihar and the rest from other States want to go back, Sawant said.
Meanwhile, Kunal, IAS, who is also the State's Chief Electoral Officer, has been designated the 'nodal officer' to handle all matters related to the transportation of the outstation workforce back to their home States.
Kunal was chosen for the task by the State Executive Committee (SEC) headed by Chief Secretary Parimal Rai. He will be expected to open channels of communication wilth similar nodal officers of the outstation workforce's destination States and co-ordinate the arrangements.
