Covid-19 fallout: Caught at Ghazipur, home is a step too far

Hundreds of migrants had gathered at the Ghazipur border on Sunday, leading to shouting, chaos and cries as the UP police made sure that no migrant entered Ghaziabad.

“I want to go back home. My husband has died there, and I need to see him one last time.”

Nitish Tripathi, a stranded migrant worker, breaks down at Ghazipur border. (Burhaan Kinu/HT PHOTO)

An inconsolable Sunita was at Delhi’s border with Uttar Pradesh in Ghazipur in the hope of boarding a bus back home to Sasaram city in Bihar. But the borders were shut, and there were no buses to be found. Sunita had come to visit her sister in the national Capital before the nationwide lockdown came into effect. “Someone please help me get home,” she said, sobbing.

Hundreds of migrants had gathered at the Ghazipur border on Sunday, leading to shouting, chaos and cries as the UP police made sure that no migrant entered Ghaziabad. The nationwide lockdown put in place to curb the spread of Covid-19 was extended till May 31 on Sunday, which was the last day of the third phase of the restrictions.

The UP government had asked the police and administration to ensure no migrant worker travelled on foot or in vehicles, after 24 people were killed in UP’s Auraiya district when the truck they were travelling on met with an accident on Saturday morning. As a result, no buses were forthcoming, nor were they allowed to cross over on foot.

This resulted in lot of chaos as the migrants tried to enter Ghaziabad with the police pushing them back.

A majority of the migrants were from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Among them was Sushila Devi’s family. Her four sons had managed to cross the border on Saturday night, while she, her husband, a daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren had been left behind.

“We started to walk from Narela on Saturday afternoon after someone told us we can get buses to Sitapur in UP, from the Ghazipur border. My sons got to the border before we did, and managed to cross. However, the police stopped us when we tried to join them. Now they are stuck just two kilometres away. They were carrying all the money we had. We are left with nothing here. We have been requesting the police to help them get back to Delhi. We are ready to stay wherever we are told. We just want to be together,” she said.

When they weren’t allowed to enter Ghaziabad, angry migrants blocked the Ghazipur main road in the evening for around 20 minutes.

Nitish Tripathi, who worked in a garment factory in the area, was among those who had blocked the arterial road. He said he and his brothers wanted to walk home to Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh.

“We have had no work for the last two months, and have run out of money now. Yesterday, we sold a TV and a table we had in our room to arrange money for the travel. But they are not letting us go home, and asking us to shift to a shelter. Our mother is unwell, and she needs us. We want to go home,” Tripathi said.

Jasmeet Singh, deputy commissioner of police (east), said the migrants had blocked the road after being provoked by “some political leaders” who had gathered many of them at the border with assurances that they would be sent to their hometowns.

“There were attempts by some migrants and party leaders to block the Ghazipur Road, but we have to convince them to leave. They are now on the side of the road, which is now clear,” Singh said. He said DTC buses would be arranged to send them to their homes in Delhi.

Officers of the Ghaziabad police said they could not let migrants enter as they were on foot, and had orders to that effect. Only those with valid train tickets were to be allowed entry.

Police said nearly 500 migrants had also gathered at the border on Saturday evening.

Sitting under a flyover near the Ghazipur border, Rajesh Kumar Kohli was among six who arrived in Delhi from Kolkata aboard a special train. “We walked from the New Delhi Railway Station to ISBT bus stand to board a bus for Aligarh. At ISBT, someone told us that buses are only available from the borders, so we started walking to Ghazipur last night. We walked for five hours but the police said there were no buses here either. We do not know what to do. I am left with Rs 100 now,” he said.

Meanwhile, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said the Delhi government will arrange trains for all migrant workers who want to return home. “We will take full care of the migrants, if they want to live here. In case they want to return to their homes, we will arrange trains for them. We won’t leave them alone in such a crisis,” he said in a tweet.

Deputy chief minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia said more than 25 trains and a large number of buses have ferried over 35,000 migrant labourers to their home states from Delhi so far.

“Today eight Shramik Special trains will carry around 12,000 migrant labourers to their homes states,” he tweeted.

He added that it is mandatory to register to be able to board one of these trains.

Meanwhile, the UP government has allowed the operation of Shramik Special trains from Ghaziabad and Noida, from where trains have been running since May 15.

UP government officials on Sunday said 522 trains have arrived from other states, and another 87 were scheduled to arrive.

“When these trains arrive, around 1.65 million migrant workers will arrive in UP. Around 150,000 arrived in the state on Saturday,” said Awanish Awasthi, additional chief secretary (home), Uttar Pradesh.