TURA: The District Administration of West Garo Hills has set up nine designated relief camps, including one special camp at Tura, to house 543 migrant labourers who were unable to head to their homes as the 21-day lockdown began.
“These nine relief camps are spread out in different parts of the district and one is a special designated camp to provide accommodation for the migrant workers in the shelter home of Tura Municipal board at Dakopgre near the PA Sangma Stadium,” informed West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Ram Singh on Wednesday.
These are not the only places providing shelter to the labour force as instructions have been issued to home owners and contractors who have engaged them in work to counsel and look after their welfare during this time of crisis.
According to the deputy commissioner, the government is providing the inmates of these camps with food and shelter.
A small handful of inmates had tried to flee from the camp recently, worried about the ongoing situation. “We have counseled and advised them that it is in the best interest of themselves and everyone else to stay under the lockdown. Some of them got homesick and wanted to leave, but they are now settled down,” added Singh.
Mobile banking facility
The food stocks have finally reached the public living far and near in Garo Hills, but another problem has begun to emerge as people, particularly villagers, are unable to withdraw their savings from banks
due to distance and lack of transportation during the ongoing curfew as well as 21-day lockdown.
To mitigate this financial crunch, the administration in Garo Hills has reached out to the banking fraternity to do their bid in easing the financial burden of the villagers.
First to reach out to the public request is Meghalaya’s oldest state supported Meghalaya Cooperative Apex Bank (MCAB) which is moving its lone mobile ATM vehicle into the rural areas from Thursday morning.
“We are starting with providing cash transaction to anyone with an ATM card having savings in any bank. Individually, one can withdraw Rs 10,000 and the maximum is Rs 40,000 in a day,” informed a senior Apex Bank official in Tura. The first destination of the mobile ATM is the hilly village of Tebronggre to provide villagers and farmers an opportunity to withdraw their savings at their doorstep.
With the initiative of the MCAB to provide financial transaction at the village level the administration is optimistic other banks will follow suit and start their own mobile ATM banking facilities for the villagers.
Dozens of villages in the Garo Hills, especially those in the hilly region, do not have bank linkages and have to head down to towns to open accounts and withdraw from savings.
