Hundreds of migrant workers in Surat came out and began protesting. The workers were demanding to be sent to their home towns.
Mumbai| In a shocking incident on Tuesday, hundreds of people gathered at Mumbai’s Bandra. Those who had gathered outside the Bandra West Railway station were migrants workers who are stranded in Mumbai. Social distancing and lockdown advisories went for a toss as hundreds of the started crowding and protesting demanding to go back home. For a city that has recorded more than 1000 cases of Coronavirus and has been declared hotspot, the incident was nothing short of a disaster.
Criticism poured in for the state government from all the quarters of society pointing towards the security lapse. The opposition BJP questioned the failure of police in preventing the gathering of people. On the other hand, Aaditya Thackeray, Guardian Minister of Mumbai Suburbs pointed fingers at the central government who did not make any arrangements for migrants to leave the city before lockdown.
While the political blame game begins in Maharashtra, one shouldn’t forget that the migrant exodus crisis isn’t region-specific. Before Mumbai, Surat and Delhi have witnessed a similar situation.
Another such incident of migrant anger pouring on streets occurred on Tuesday evening. Hundreds of migrant workers in Surat came out and began protesting. The workers were demanding to be sent to their home towns despite the lockdown. Earlier on Friday, migrant workers also staged violent demonstrations in Surat. Police said that migrant workers gathered in Varchha area of Surat city and sat on the road.
However, Surat is a diamond hub and provides employment to millions of labourers. There are also several textile units in this area. Most of the workers were from Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Local legislator and state minister of health Kishore Kanani also reached the protest site to explain to the protesters.
A police officer at the scene said, “These migrant workers want to return to their original place of residence. We have asked them not to lose patience due to lockdown. Some of them complained about the food. We called an NGO and bought food packets for them immediately. The situation is now under control. ‘
The lockdown has been harsh for migrant workers and daily wage labourers. With no shelter, no food and no money thousands of them are turning to their home towns. However, as public transport has been suspended many are stranded in the cities or forced to walk hundreds of kilometres.
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