BMC commissioner Praveen Pardeshi has asked officials of the building proposals department to identify newly constructed buildings in their jurisdictions which are unoccupied so that they can serve as temporary shelters for stranded labourers and for other emergencies.
Civic officials stated there were many such building in the city and the first few floors of these buildings could be used to provide shelter to labourers.
With no means to travel back to their home towns, these migrants have been staying on the roads. Civic officials stated they would shift the labourers to these temporary shelters and arrange food for them. A civic official also added that in an emergency, such buildings could be used to provide isolation facilities for affected slum pockets.
The BMC is trying to trace stranded migrants and shift them to temporary shelters. Civic officials stated they are taking the help of ward-level officials to trace the migrants, while NGOs have been roped in to arrange food packets. Meanwhile, the BMC received 39 ventilators from Tata AutoComp, one lakh gloves from Shiv Sena minister Aaditya Thackeray and protective gear and other material from NGOs, charitable trusts and builders.
