PTI photographer Atul Yadav¡¯s picture of a man sobbing on his phone while sitting on the roadside, has proven to be one of the most heartbreaking pictures to come forward as a reflection of the hardships?and tragedies faced by migrants during this coronavirus crisis.?
The photographer revealed the story of the migrant and that is even more heartbreaking than the picture itself.?
38-year-old Ram Pukar Pandit, a migrant labourer living in Nawada, received a call from his wife from Bihar¡¯s Begusarai informing that their one-year-old baby died on Monday. Without a second thought he left for home to see his child, one last time.?
Atul Yadav was driving across Nizamuddin Bridge when he saw Ram Pukar sobbing uncontrollably.?
'In the last few weeks, I have come across and photographed so many migrants, one more helpless than the other, and honestly I didn¡¯t expect to feel surprised at the sight of a grown man crying. But I was', Atul writes for PTI.?
When asked where he wanted to go, Ram Pukar just said? ¡°udhar¡± (there) 'pointing at the expanse of the road stretching across the Yamuna and meandering towards Delhi¡¯s border some miles away¡¯. It was only later that the photographer found out that ¡®udhar¡¯ meant his home - Bariarpur in Begusarai in Bihar, almost 1,200 km away.
Atul recounts, ¡®He said he worked as a labourer in Najafgarh and, in the absence of any public transport, had started walking home like thousands of other migrants across the country. His journey abruptly came to a halt after the police at the bridge refused to let him go further. The man, broken and defeated, had been stuck at the Nizamuddin Bridge for three days¡¯.?
Atul offered him some biscuits and water and requested the police personnel in the vicinity requesting them to let him cross the border.
¡®They were reluctant, but since the request came from a media person they said they would ensure he reaches home¡¯, he writes.?
Reports since then have claimed that on Thursday, officials from the East district of Delhi dropped him at New Delhi Railway Station where he boarded a special migrant train to Bihar along with hundreds of others. Pandit has reached Begusarai, but has been taken to a MCD school to be screened for COVID-19.
Ram Pukar¡¯s heartbreaking story is one of many migrant labourers who are struggling to go home, on foot, by train, losing their lives in the process - in accidents, or because of heat and starvation. The pandemic has left us staring at the very naked and large gap between the rich and the poor of our country, and made us realise how in the time of crisis, it is always the ones on the lowest rung who get trampled.?