India's only Formula 1 circuit will now house migrant workers as lockdown restrictions tighten

The Buddh International Circuit will house migrant workers who have been rushing to their native places from the national capital after economic activity came to a grinding halt due to the 21-day lockdown ordered to contain the Covid-19 infection.

A Times of India report said the district magistrate of Gautam Budh Nagar, B N Singh, has invoked special powers under the Disaster Management Act to designate Jaypee Sports City as shelter home for migrant workers.

"JPSI Sports City, Yamuna Expressway along with their building and other resources have been designed as shelter homes with immediate effect for the medical treatment, food and lodging of people of the district or other states, who are destitute in Gautam Budh Nagar," ANI quoted the order from the Gautam Budh Nagar District Magistrate.


The DM has ordered the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority to construct makeshift structures to house these migrant workers.

The migrant workers won't be allowed in the core area of the Formula 1 circuit, according to the report.

After the order, the YEIDA officials rushed to make arrangements for the migrant workers. “Water and electricity connections are available. Others things have been ordered. The arrangement would be done in makeshift structures,” the Times of India report quoted Navneet Goel, YEIDA’s officer on special duty, as saying.

India's only Formula 1 circuit was taken over by Yamuna Expressway Authorities in the wake of non-payments by the Jaypee Group.