Ghaziabad: Clueless about buses, hundreds of migrant workers walk back home

Chaos continued to reign supreme at Delhi-Ghaziabad borders on Friday as thousands of clueless migrant labourers turned up at both Maharajpur border at Anand Vihar

Chaos continued to reign supreme at Delhi-Ghaziabad borders on Friday as thousands of clueless migrant labourers turned up at both Maharajpur border at Anand Vihar and UP-Gate border on Delhi Meerut e-way — the two major crossings into Ghaziabad from the capital — in the hope of catching a special bus home.

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The special buses, being operated by the UP State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC), start from Lal Kuan intersection in Ghaziabad, around 15km from the UP Gate border . But most migrants HT spoke to on Friday, said they have no clues whatsoever about the timing or operation of such buses.

On Friday, thousands of migrant workers flocked to the borders of Ghaziabad district while trying to head to their hometowns after factories, shops and other establishments were shut down following the announcement of a countrywide lockdown by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.

“It has been over four hours me and my family have been waiting at Dasna to get a bus. Some locals told us that buses will be available from Lal Kuan. For that we will again have to walk another 10 kilometres. Things are difficult. There has been rain and I have my children along with me. Since our factory has closed, we are all moving to our hometowns,” said Prema Devi, a worker who is native of Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh.

While hundreds kept waiting at Maharajpur border at Anand Vihar and UP-Gate border on Delhi Meerut e-way, a handful decided to walk to their native places.

“We are a family of five and we started walking from Gandhi Nagar in Delhi on Thursday night. Then there was a spell of rain and we slept at Sahibabad vegetable market. We have no information about the buses and as a result of walking continuously we have developed foot sores. We only have around Rs 600 remaining with us,” said Abhishek Kumar, a native of Shahjahanpur, who is a tailor by profession.

“Our place is about 350km away and we have decided that we will walk. Our work has shutdown and there is no money left. So we will move to our hometown and find some work there once lockdown is lifted,” he added.

Scenes of chaos was visible at the Maharajpur border as well where hundreds of men, woman and children kept waiting for UPSRTC buses at Kaushambi ISBT.

“The migrant workers have been sitting here since morning. Most of them are also walking to their hometowns. Many have come to Kaushambi and occupied streets and parks. Ideally, if the UPSRTC is running buses to ferry them to their hometowns, then they should have operated them from UP-Gate and ISBT Kaushambi. This would have made life easier for these poor workers. Many of them don’t know about the operation of buses at all,” said VK Mittal, president of Kaushambi Apartments RWA (KARWA).

District magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey did not respond to calls on the issue.

“We setup a temporary free food stall to help the migrant workers who are walking back to their hometowns. They have no information from where the buses are operating. Hundreds of people are walking through Ghaziabad city and have no clues about the Lal Kuan intersection. They are in a helpless condition and are carrying their children on their shoulders, along with baggage,” said Ram Sundar Maurya, a resident of Masuri.

UPSRTC regional manager AK Singh, however, said that the corporation had sent about 80 buses on Thursday night and roped in another 100 on Friday.

“The buses have been procured from different regions of UPSRTC and roped in as per directions. They will operate from Lal Kuan intersection on Delhi-Meerut expressway, but will not have any fixed schedule. They will move when we get a specified number of passengers for a specific destination — like Moradabad, Bareilly, Aligarh and Badaun,” he said.

“The buses will charge normal fare and cover around 250km distance from Ghaziabad,” he added.

Meanwhile Awanish Awasthi, UP’s additional chief secretary (home) said that UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath has spoken to chief minister’s of different states to help out migrant workers.

“Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has asked CMs of other states to help out people from Uttar Pradesh and make them stay at their present location by offering help in terms of shelter and food. The CM has also directed the formation of 11 committees which will submit daily reports to him and take up monitoring of issues, including those related to migrant workers,” he said.

“Senior UP government officials, including the senior officers from UP police departments, have been made in-charges to look after the issues of people of UP in states like Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Delhi, among others. The officials will coordinate efforts to help out people from UP who are stranded in other states,” he added.