The officials in Uttar Pradesh administration say that buses will take migrant workers to home. In daily press briefings, senior government officers churn out the numbers of trains that have arrived in UP and the number of migrants workers being brought back. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asks officers to be polite with these workers and provide them transport. However, the grim reality is that thousands of migrant workers are forced to walk and cycle back to their homes.
High sounding assurances are coming from both the Centre and the state government, but these workers do not want to wait any longer. So, they opted for the most challenging option: to walk back home.
Published: 13 May 2020, 2:09 PM IST
Mohammad Imran, a native of Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh, was seen walking back to his village from Ajmer with his pregnant wife, children and parents. He walked almost 400 km and reached Agra where he was stopped on Wednesday. “If I get a ride it is okay, otherwise I will walk with my family. It is better to walk than to die on the roads,” he said.
There are hordes of people who are walking or cycling back to their homes from Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana to their native villages in Uttar Pradesh. A majority of them tried the helpline number publicised by the government but either it remained busy or nobody was available to receive calls.
Published: 13 May 2020, 2:09 PM IST
These are the stories of grit and determination of these people – some of which had a happy ending and others that ended in grief.
The journey that ended in death:
Published: 13 May 2020, 2:09 PM IST
Mother’s tryst to protect daughter:
Published: 13 May 2020, 2:09 PM IST
Rukhsana Bano embarked on a 900 km long journey from Indore to Amethi just to try save her daughter Nargis (3) from the coronavirus. “I tried to hitch a hike but no one stopped. If we don’t get any vehicle we will continue our journey on foot,” she said.
She was part of a group of 8 relatives who decided to head home on foot they failed to get help from the MP or UP governments. Her husband was a waiter in a restaurant. After it closed down because of the lockdown, they waited for few days and then decided to walk to their village in Amethi.
“The situation in Indore was very bad. There was fear that we could also be infected. So we decided to walk back home,” she said.
Her husband stayed back as he was not confident about the idea of walking back home. Rukhsana joined a group of relatives returning to Amethi. After a lift on two trucks and a tractor and walking for over 24 hours, they finally reached home on Tuesday.
Published: 13 May 2020, 2:09 PM IST
Mumbai –Prayagraj: 15,000 km in 6 day
Published: 13 May 2020, 2:09 PM IST
Autos bearing the Maharashtra number plates are quite visible in Prayagraj – earlier called Allahabad. They travelled 1500 km from Mumbai in six-odd days and spent Rs 15,000 which include ‘suvidha shulk’ to the policemen at the inter-state borders.
A majority of these people are auto drivers who used to earn a livelihood in Mumbai plying autos. After lockdown, when their `dhanda’ died down they decided to return home. Ramesh Chaurasia is one such enterprising auto driver. He spoke to his friends who chipped in money and they decided to return home.
“We travelled 300-400 km per day and it took almost 6 days to reach Praygraj,” he said. When asked if they were not stopped at inter-state borders he said: paisa bolta hai.
Published: 13 May 2020, 2:09 PM IST
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Published: 13 May 2020, 2:09 PM IST