Forthousands of migrant labourers in India, the nationwide lockdown in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, has brought their lives to a standstill. They continue to beon the move, desperate get back to their homes.?
Amidthe lockdown, close to a thousand labourers working in Ahmedabad were forced towalk back to their native town in Rajasthan. According to a TOI report, theirowners handed them a mere Rs 500 and asked them to leave.
Alongwith their children and whatever few belongings they had, these labourers wereseen walking the highway in Sabarkantha district and they were completelyexhausted owning to the blistering heat.
Thesepeople found it hard even to get a sip of water as all the hotels along the waywere shut, states the report.
¡°I was working in Ranip area ofAhmedabad and my employer asked me to leave. He gave me bus fare, but allpublic transport is closed so we were forced to walk back to our villages,¡± saidTejabhai, a labourer from Rajasthan.
Luckily,cops posted in Sabarkantha spotted these individuals and immediately arranged food for them.?Taking note of the incident Chaitanya Mandlik,?Sabarkantha's?superintendent of police said that transport will bearranged for these labourers to safely reach their native towns.
Mandlik also informed they havearranged for food and water for the duration of time they take to reach home and have alsounderstood the state of panic they must be in given the current situation.
As India goes into lockdown,migrant workers without protections are desperately trying to return home.According to a Live Mint report, millions are trying to flee the big citieswhere the first cases were reported and return to smaller towns and villages inpacked public transport.?
The lockdown has come heavily onthose involved in the gig economy which, according to the Live Mint,constitutes nearly 90% of the country¡¯s workforce.? From those working in restaurants to thosemaking a living by ironing clothes in the neighbourhood, daily wagers arefinding it difficult to make ends meet.
A native of Darbhanga in Bihar, Mukhiya works at an under constructionbuilding in suburban Kalina.
"I have not been paid in the lastcouple of days, as the work has come to a standstill at the site. My labourcontractor has been providing me some essentials, helping me survive withoutmoney," PTI quotes him as saying.
"We have been borrowing moneyto survive. We want the government to at least help us get to our hometowns," another daily-wage labourer told PTI.
The lockdown announced by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi means that these people have zero prospect of income for the nextthree weeks.