Zoramthanga
Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga. Image: Northeast Now

The Mizoram government has sought assistance from states to look after the welfare of Mizoram residents, stranded elsewhere in the country due to the lockdown.

This was said by chief minister Zoramthanga on Thursday.

He said that his government has received a report from different parts of the country that the stranded Mizos were facing hardship due to the ongoing lockdown.

“We have asked chief secretaries of all states, where the Mizoram residents are stranded, to extend humanitarian aids and look after their welfare,” he said.

He said the issue could not be solved by the Mizoram government alone owing to which mutual assistance has been sought from states, where the Mizo people are stranded.

According to him, the state government is incapable of doing anything to take back the stranded people right now because all flights, trains and road transports were closed due to the nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of novel coronavirus.

“We are collecting the names and contact  numbers of the stranded Mizos through officials of Mizoram houses and Mizo welfare committees, which are again sent to chief secretaries of respective states,” he said,

He further added that the stranded people should also act on their parts to reach to respective state government as officials might have been busy dealing with the pandemic situation in their respective states.

Zoramthanga also said that the Mizoram government is providing foods and shelters to migrants workers and other outsiders stranded in the state as suggested by the Centre.

Earlier, on Wednesday Mizoram’s lone Lok Sabha member C. Lalrosanga, who is currently in the national capital, had said that many people from Mizoram are stranded in different parts of the country and are facing financial and food crisis due to the ongoing lockdown.

He had said that the state government has so far identified about 400 people from more than 30 states and union territories, who are stranded due to the lockdown.

The stranded Mizos are mostly students, employees of private firms, patients and their attendants, he had said.

He had also alleged that the stranded Mizos were scared to step out of their rooms to buy essential commodities for fear of racial attack.

Some Mizo students from Delhi, Bangalore, Lucknow and Ahmednagar, had also informed this correspondent that they were running out of money and were facing racial discrimination.