Prestone Tynsong
Meghalaya deputy chief minister Prestone Tynsong addressing a media conference. Image credit - Northeast Now

Stranded citizens of Meghalaya, who have returned from states outside the Northeast, are being treated as returnees from ‘COVID19 Red Zone’ areas.

On Wednesday, 189 stranded people have arrived in Meghalaya, who all returned by arranging transportation on their own.

Meghalaya deputy chief minister Prestone Tynsong told reporters that those, who returned on Wednesday, include 116 from West Bengal, 33 from Rajasthan, 13 from Madhya Pradesh, 8 from Bihar, 7 each from Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, and 5 from Jharkhand.

In total, 3,970 stranded people, both from states within the Northeast and states outside the region, have returned to the state so far.

Tynsong informed that 2,725 stranded people of Meghalaya will return by trains from their respective places of stay to Guwahati in the coming days.

Tynsong said the stranded people include 1,000 of them from Tamil Nadu, who will board a train in Chennai on Wednesday night and will arrive in Guwahati on May 15.

Another train, which will depart from Bengaluru on May 16 ferrying around 1,500 Meghalaya citizens stranded in Karnataka, will arrive in Guwahati on May 18.

From Gujarat, 225 stranded people of Meghalaya will board a train on May 15 and it will arrive in Guwahati on May 17.

“Once these stranded people reach Guwahati, the government will arrange the transportation to fetch them from there, and drop to their respective places,” Tynsong said.

Tynsong said all the stranded citizens, who return to Meghalaya from states outside the Northeast, would be treated as having returned from ‘Red Zone’ areas.

Deputy chief minister Tynsong spoke to media persons at Yojana Bhavan in Main Secretariat here on Wednesday.