64 migrants in Jammu heading to UP on foot sent back

Terming the lockdown as the ‘toughest phase of their impoverished lives’, migrant workers in Jammu and Kashmir on May 1 had urged the government to run special trains to send them back to their home districts

 Over 64 migrant labourers hailing from Uttar Pradesh, started walking to their native villages from here on Monday, prompting the local administration to intervene which sent them back to their rented accommodations amid the third phase of the nationwide lockdown.

HT Image

Station house officer of Trikuta Nagar police station, Bishnesh Kumar said, “The migrants left their rented accommodations in Nowabad, Bhagwati Nagar and Canal Road area and started walking to their native villages in UP. We intercepted them a few kilometers away from Trikuta Nagar and sent them to their rented accommodations, he added.

The police officer said that the migrants were facing hardships and had no money or food which forced them to walk miles to reach their hometown.

Later, additional district magistrate Tahir Firdous Dutt reached the spot and interacted with the labourers. He also requisitioned two SRTC buses in which they were sent back to their place of stay.

He said there are around 75,000 migrant labourers in Jammu and the government is making every effort to ensure free delivery of ration to them.

Terming the lockdown as the ‘toughest phase of their impoverished lives’, migrant workers in Jammu and Kashmir on May 1 had urged the government to run special trains to send them back to their home districts.

Migrant workers from Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, who are largely into construction and allied sectors migrated to the Union territory for a living.