As hundreds of migrant workers lined up to leave for home, a familiar scene from last year played out at the national capital’s bus terminals and railway stations.
Just hours after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a weeklong lockdown to tackle the second Covid surge and appealed them to stay put in national capital, a familiar scene from last year played out at the national capital’s bus terminals and railway stations — as hundreds of migrant workers lined up to leave for home.
A large crowd of migrants gathered at Delhi’s Anand Vihar Inter State Bus Terminal with bags packed, headed to their destinations mostly Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. The chorus: “We don’t want to be stranded again”, The India Express reported.
Many clearly pointed out that they were particularly wary after last year’s experience, when they had to lose out on their jobs and were forced to stand in long queues just to get food for their families.
The migrants had to wait for hours at the bus stop with no choice to maintain social distancing. Many were seen walking out of the bus stand with heavy loads on their heads and shoulders.
Many migrant workers claimed of being charged around 10 times more than the usual fare by bus drivers, Times Now reported.
As per Times Now report, while speaking to media, one of the migrant labourers said, “We’re daily wagers, the Chief Minister should have given us some time before announcing the lockdown. It takes us Rs 200 to reach home, but they are charging Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 now, how will we go home?”
The same situation was observed at Ghaziabad border as hundreds of migrant labourers had gathered there to return home by walk.
“There is no work for us and no landlord or government will help us during the lockdown. That is why we are leaving. If there is a further lockdown, we will not be able to survive,” one of the migrants said, Times Now reported.
Yesterday, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal announced a six-day lockdown from 10 pm on Monday till 5 am on April 26 which he said was necessary to deal with the rising number of COVID-19 cases as the city’s health system was stretched to its limits.
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