MIGRANT WORKERS IN MUMBAI, DELHI START HEADING HOME AGAIN, AMID FEAR OF LOCKDOWN

India is facing the second COVID-19 wave currently, where the number of fresh COVID cases are rapidly increasing. In view of restricting the growth of cases, several states have started imposing weekend lockdowns and night curfews. Last year, at around the same time, the condition was almost similar, where the government had imposed a complete lockdown in the country. We saw lakhs of migrant workers returning to their home-states (on foot, bicycle, trucks, trains, buses, auto-rickshaw, etc.) The same thing is happening this year too. Migrant workers in Mumbai and Delhi have again started heading towards their home states. The reason behind this is the fear of complete lockdown gets imposed then these migrants would face several difficulties like last year. In the last few days, the migrant workers in Delhi were seen leaving from the Anand Vihar Bus Terminal, back to their home states. They said they are well prepared this time in advanced itself, so they don’t get stuck into the city with no food and money. Similarly, in Mumbai, the migrant laborers had gathered at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, for boarding trains back to their home states. The trains were fully packed and there were no signs of social distancing. Besides this, states like Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Odisha have announced restrictions including night curfews and lockdowns. So, the migrant laborers have no other option than to go back to their home states.