Migrants continue to trickle out of Capital on 1st day of lockdown

The state government is also going to start providing financial aid of ₹5,000 to at least 170,000 workers registered with the Delhi workers welfare board.

The exodus of migrants from the Capital to their home towns in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand via buses from the Anand Vihar bus terminal, and across the border from Uttar Pradesh’s Kaushambi terminus, continued on Tuesday, the first day of the lockdown in Delhi.

A queue of migrant workers outside the Anand Vihar Railway Station on Tuesday. (Amal KS/HT Photo)

The crowd at the two stations, however, was much less than on Monday, when nearly tens of thousands left the Capital in buses, officials said.

The scenes on Monday were reminiscent of the migrant exodus last March, after the nationwide lockdown was declared. The foot-overbridges connecting Kaushambi and Anand Vihar ISBTs, and the railway station and the Metro station, were packed through Monday and in the early hours of Tuesday.

Covid-19 protocols fell by the wayside as people stood in close proximity, and many did not wear masks properly.

Officials attributed the drop in Tuesday’s numbers at the transit hubs to the enforcement of the curfew in Delhi and “confidence-building” measures they have undertaken to ensure migrants do not leave.

These, officials said, included the announcement by the Delhi government on Tuesday that shelters will be opened for migrant workers, and they will be given free meals and medical aid.

The state government is also going to start providing financial aid of ₹5,000 to at least 170,000 workers registered with the Delhi workers welfare board.

Puneet Sethi, state manager of ISBT Anand Vihar, said more than 25,000 people caught buses out of the city on Monday itself. There was a sharp decline in passengers since Tuesday morning and not more than 200 passengers were seen at any given time at the bus terminal.

“The crowd on Monday was mostly migrants who panicked after the curfew announcement. We arranged 400 extra buses to manage the situation. A majority of passengers had left by early Tuesday,” Sethi said.

Officials at the Kaushambi terminal said more than 60,000 passengers left in over 1,200 buses on Monday. The numbers came down to fewer than 10,000 passengers by Tuesday evening.

“The gatherings swelled on Monday. Nearly 90% of them left by 3.30am on Tuesday. The situation is normal now,” said Narendra Kumar, assistant regional manager, Kaushambi terminal.

To manage the crowd and to ensure they followed Covid protocol, nearly 400 police and civil defence volunteers were deployed in and around the bus terminals, said additional deputy commissioner of police (east) Sanjay Sehrawat.