Madhya Pradesh Chief MinisterShivraj Singh Chouhan has said despite the states economy collapsing" due to COVID-19 outbreak, the government has transferred over Rs 16,000 crore into the accounts of the poor, labourers and farmers to ease their hardships.In a televised address on Monday night, Chouhan also said that migrant labourers need not worry as arrangements were being made to send them home by buses and trains."The state's economy has collapsed due to coronavirus, but we have transferred more than Rs 16,000 crore into the poor, labourers, farmers, children, among others, so that no section of the society has to face any problem," he said.He said more than 91 trains and thousands of buses have been deployed to transport migrant workers to their native places."The government is also making arrangements for their food, ration and jobs. Labourers without ration cards are also being given free ration. Job cards are being made available to those labourers who want to work. The government has decided that these labourers will be eligible for (benefits under) the Sambal Yojna, Chouhan said.The Sambal Yojna is aimed at strengthening the lives of poor by providing them social security cover."We are also taking full care of labourers of Madhya Pradesh stranded in other states. We will not allow them to walk or go to sleep hungry in the state. Every labourer is being transported to the border of the state and about 1,000 buses are engaged daily in this work," Chouhan said.Facilities like food, tea, snacks are being provided to them. Along with the governance and administration, public is also treating them like guests and social organisations are providing them shoes and slippers, he said.Noting that there have been some accidents during the movement of labourers, he said an assistance of Rs 5 lakh each has been provided to families of all workers who died after being run over by a goods train in Aurangabad (Maharashtra).Besides, Rs 14 lakh has been given to families of labourers killed in an accident at Barwani in the state.Chouhan also said that Rs 1 lakh each will be given to labourers from other states who die in accidents in Madhya Pradesh, and Rs 25,000 each will be given to those injured.On relief to farmers, he said over 90 lakh metric tonne of wheat has been purchased on support price in the state and payments worth over Rs 10,000 crore has been made to cultivators."Farmers need not worry at all, the government will purchase every grain of their crop," he said, adding that procurement of gram, lentil and mustard on support price is also in progress.Cultivators should go to procurement centres to sell their produce only after receiving the SMS, and maintain two yards distance from each other and adopt all safety measures to stay protected against COVID-19, he said.The government has also re-implemented the system of providing crop loans to farmers at zero per cent interest, Chouhan said.Recently, crop insurance amount worth Rs 2,290 crore has been transferred to the accounts of 15 lakh farmers of the state, he added.
