Kolkata, Mar 26 (IANS): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday wrote to her counterparts in 18 states requesting them to provide basic shelter, food and medical support to migrants workers from Bengal who have got stuck at their place of work due to the complete lockdown in the country to prevent spread of COVID 19.

"Due to complete lockdown in the country for the COVID 19 pandemic, many Bengal workers could not travel back and are stuck at different places. We have information that many such workers who are ordinarily residents of Bengal are stuck in your state too," Banerjee said in identical letters to the chief ministers of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Telangana, Karnataka and others.

Banerjee said her administration was getting SOS calls from the stranded workers.

"They are generally in groups of 50-100... Since it is not possible for us to reach any help to them, I take this opportunity to request you to kindly ask your administration to provide them with basic shelter, food and medical support during this period of crisis," she added.