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Cops stuffed us like cattle on trucks, brought us to shelter home, say migrants stopped from journey home
Migrant workers who were walking back to their home towns along Ghaziabad highways and the railway tracks said they were stopped by the police in Morta, Bundled
Migrant workers who were walking back to their home towns along Ghaziabad highways and the railway tracks said they were stopped by the police in Morta, Bundled on to trucks like cattle and brought to a shelter home near Raj Nagar Extension.
Several of them said they were transported in such an inhumane and congested manner that trucks doors had to be left open for them to even breathe till they reached the shelter home. They also alleged that police did not even have dedicated vehicles to ferry them and simply piled them on to whichever vehicle happened to be passing by, after flagging them to stop.
The Ghaziabad police however denied that they were transporting migrants in an inhumane manner and said most migrant workers are shifted to Ghaziabad from nearby areas and then dispatched to their home towns on buses.
Eighteen-year-old Munna, who used to work as a daily wager at Tila Morh in Ghaziabad, said he was walking to his home town in Chapra, Bihar, when he was picked by the police.
“About 50 to 100 people were picked up by the police and then they were packed into trucks, mini-trucks and even container trucks that were passing by. The drivers were told to take us to the shelter home. I was taken in one such container truck along with dozens of others. One of truck doors was left open so that we could breathe,” he said.
Rajesh Kumar, 25, had started his journey by foot from Gandhi Nagar in Delhi where he worked as tailor. “I had reached Morta where people told me that we could get buses to our home towns. But then our group of 50 to 60 people was stopped by the police. They piled us on to a truck like cattle with little concern for social distancing and brought us to this farmhouse which is now a temporary shelter,” Kumar, who hails from Kaushambi district in Uttar Pradesh, said.
Most migrant workers found on the road and alongside the railway tracks were transported to shelter homes in a similar manner.
“About 100 of us were made to sit on a small pick-up truck. I had come from Loni to Morta in the hopes of catching bus to my home town in Saran, Bihar. They stuffed us like they are transporting cattle. We could barely breathe till we reached the farmhouse,” Rajesh Kumar Yadav, who used to work as a daily wager in Loni, said. He and 25 others with him have been shifted to the shelter home.
Jageshwar, who had come from Delhi, said he was one of about 100 people bundled into the truck.
“There were three trucks that the police had stopped and then we were shifted to the shelter home. On Monday night, some trucks arrived at the shelter home and workers from Uttar Pradesh were asked to board them. The trucks took them away and we don’t know where they were taken to. I tol them that I, too, belong to UP but the driver said the truck was full and I should wait for another one. But no vehicle came after that,” Jageshwar, who hails from Kaushambi district, said.
Denying these allegations, Kalanidhi Nithani, senior superintendent of police, Ghaziabad, said, “We have sent about 106 buses two days ago and another 150 more will be despatched soon. When migrant workers hear about the movement of buses, they come to Ghaziabad or are sent here from nearby areas. If our personnel at checkpoints see them coming in vehicles we make them “adjust properly” so that they can easily be taken to shelter homes where they are given food and lodging facilities.”
Subdivisional magistrate Prashant Tiwari said that he will look into the issue and also talk to Ghaziabad police. He said migrant workers walking will not be allowed to walk home and that the administration is arranging them buses.
