No money to sustain, say migrants in Noida as they try and catch last bus to home

Noida:

Noida:

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Anil Yadav, a stranded migrant worker who hails from a remote village in Kannauj district, wandered Noida’s deserted streets with his family in search of transport, following a word of the mouth he might get transport at Sector 62 to reach either GT road or Lal Kuan in Ghaziabad from where they may board a state transport bus for home.

But even before they could make it there, the family of six that includes two children were pushed back by the police. They could only reach Sector 71 after walking almost 5 kms and since they were told that there was no local transport available anywhere, they headed straight to the Dadri bypass, some 30kms from there.

“We have no other option but to go back home. There is no work, we have limited cash and the prices of food and other essential items have soared. The shopkeepers won’t give us ration on credit. We have cash enough to sustain only for a few days. People are saying the lockdown may continue for months. At least back in our village, we will be safe and have food to eat. We can help our family back in the village attend to farms,” says Anil Yadav, one of the many such migrant labourers hailing from the remotest villages of the state.

While almost all his neighbours had already left, only a few families from Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal stayed back,. he said. Panicked and confused, hundreds of migrant workers of Noida and Greater Noida along with their families left their rented accommodations, saying they had no money sustain in Noida, especially with no work and no wages.

Ajay Verma, another such migrant from Mahoba district, rested at the Hindon bridge with his family of eight that had three toddlers. The family rented a house at Farkapur locality near Sector 77, and had been walking to the Dadri bypass for past two hours.

“We left home for Lal Kuan but were told police is caning people on the way, so we are now going towards Dadri where majority of the people are heading. I work here at a salon in Sector 18, which is closed. We have not much money. Even though our landlord is not asking for rent, he just might. Also, the ration being distributed is not enough for the entire family,” said Ajay, who along with many other families like him had ti walk 25 km to reach GT road.

At GT road, there were a number of stranded families waiting for hours to board a bus to their districts, many including people from neighbouring states such as Haryana and Rajasthan.

“We have been waving at all the buses that left but none stopped. We work in Alwar, Rajasthan, and took a lift in a truck and reached Delhi this morning. From Delhi, we walked till Dadri and had been waiting for bus to Lucknow, from where we will head towards our village in Ayodhya,” said Munsi Lal, who had been waiting for a bus since hours.

Meanwhile, a number of families were stopped by the police near Dadri station road.

“We have got to know that a bus bound to Hardoi will reach Dadri bypass around 7 pm, it’s already 6.30 pm and the police stopped us here. They said there are already many people at the bypass. We don’t know what to do,” said Pawan Mishra, another migrant worker from Madhopur village in Hardoi district.

Asked why they were leaving, he along with many other stranded passengers said the prices of ration had soared and they were running out of cash.

While UPSRTC officials said that around 3,050 buses were arranged to ferry stranded families stuck in NCR, there were taking only a limited passengers to avoid crowds.

“We are sending more buses. About 220 buses had been rushed from Hardoi zone alone. But there are orders are not to exceed 50 passengers per bus. Earlier yesterday, a number of buses that reached earlier at Kaushambi were overcrowded and the passengers were later shifted to new buses,” said an official from UPSRTC, who didn’t want to be named.

Police officials, who were asking the families to return to their accommodation, said there are rumours about enough transport to ferry passengers to hometowns and people were scared about exhausting their ration.

“Since morning, we saw families heading to different parts of the city, thinking they will get transport. We asked them to return to their accommodations, told them that ration is being distributed and they can call 112 or 100 for help. But the panic level is quite high,” said a police official at Sector 76.

In a bid to provide shelter to those out on the road, the Noida district administration set up makeshift shelter homes at 28 places.

“Each of the shelters can accommodate 7,000 people at a time and will have food arrangements,” said District magistrate BN Singh in an order.

The district administration has been continuously keeping a tab on shopkeepers to ensure no one is selling essential goods at higher prices. On Sunday, officials registered an FIR against four firms at the Kasna police station that were selling sanitisers and other items at prices higher than the print rate.

Multiple enforcement teams headed by chief development officer Anil Kumar Singh have been moving around in local areas to ensure no shopkeeper is selling items at more than the printed price. Two shops were fined of Rs 25,000 and Rs 5,000 in sector 25 of Noida for selling overpriced goods.