Sugar cane workers can go home after check-up

Kolhapur: The district administration and sugar mills, where the workers are staying, have initiated steps to send them home after conducting medical examination and ensuring that they are fit.
The state government on Friday decided to allow cane cutters to return home. Most cane workers migrate from Marathwada to work in the cane fields in western Maharashtra.According to state government, as many as 1.31 lakh sugarcane workers are living in temporary shelters on the premises of 38 sugar cane factories in the state.
Arun Kakade, district deputy registrar, Kolhapur, said they had started gathering information about the sugarcane workers living in the temporary shelters and in the premises of the sugar mills in the district. “The sugar mills have been asked to make a proper list of the sugarcane workers staying in their premises with details including their names and detailed address of the native places, taluka and district. Once the list is prepared, they have been asked to conduct medical examination of all these people,” he said.
Once the health examination is done, the names and addresses of the workers will have to be submitted to the district collector for getting approval to send them home.
“After the collector grants the approval, we will convey the message to the police officials concerned. They will escort these workers to Kolhapur district border and hand them over to Sangli district police. All information will be shared with the police till the workers reach their destination,” he said.
The mill administrations have been asked to gather information about the cattle these workers have with them. When the lockdown was announced, a total 14,000 sugarcane workers along with 5,000 cattle were staying at the premises of seven sugar mills in Kolhapur district.