Mumbai, Apr 3 (IANS): The NESCO Group's Bombay Exhibition Centre (BEC) has opened its sprawling expo halls in Goregaon east to house thousands of stranded and lockdown-hit migrants, labourers and the homeless, an official said here on Friday.

For the purpose, the BEC has tweaked its expo halls - usually meant for major national-international exhibitions - for the purpose of housing those who have been suddenly rendered homeless after the Covid-19 lockdown from March 25.

The BEC's 200,000 sq. feet expo halls will now provide a roof to more than 10,000 of these homeless persons in the current crisis.

They include thousands of migrant workers affected due to the closure of work on major infrastructure projects like the metro, link roads, coastal roads, construction sites and daily wage-earners.

Though the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and state government has been making efforts to shelter them, many more spaces are required for which the BEC has chipped in with its exhibition premises, said NESCO Group Chairman Sumant J. Patel.

"The world is facing this crisis and it is our duty, as a company, to contribute in whatever ways possible. Currently we are facing a situation in our city, where thousands are rendered homeless with no access to basic necessities. We have provided our halls as temporary shelter and basic requirements while we battle Covid-19. We have coordinated with the local authorities to use our halls for this purpose," Patel added.