E-Paper
Covid-19 lockdown: Migrant workers throng MP borders in bid to return home
The officials said about 8,000 people, including women and children, have gathered at Bijasan in Barwani along the state’s border with Maharashtra and over 5000 at Pitol in Jhabua that borders Gujarat since Saturday as they were not allowed to enter MP.
Thousands of labourers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have gathered along Madhya Pradesh’s borders with Gujarat and Maharasthra as they seek to return to their states even as inter-state borders remained closed as part of the national lockdown imposed to check the Covid-19 spread, multiple officials said on Monday.
The officials said about 8,000 people, including women and children, have gathered at Bijasan in Barwani along the state’s border with Maharashtra and over 5000 at Pitol in Jhabua that borders Gujarat since Saturday as they were not allowed to enter Madhya Pradesh. Similarly, thousands of labourers gathered at Johariya in Datia district along the Madhya Pradesh-Uttar Pradesh border as it remained closed.
Rohit, a labourer from Uttar Pradesh’s Faridpur stranded along the Gujarat border, said their group reached Pitol on Sunday. “We want to go to Uttar Pradesh. The officials here say [chief minister] Yogi [Yogi Adityanath] does not want us to enter Uttar Pradesh. The authorities are opening and closing the border. There is no food and water for us since yesterday [Sunday]. There should be prior information when they are going to close or open the border.”
Arvind Kumar from Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh said people from Madhya Pradesh were being allowed to enter the state while they were not.
Datia collector Rohit Singh said a number of labourers were allowed to get in but then the border was closed from the Uttar Pradesh side.
Madhya Pradesh police chief Vivek Johri said they have no problem in allowing people to enter the state but Uttar Pradesh has to allow them.
The Barwani administration arranged 200 buses for labourers to go to Uttar Pradesh on Thursday and Friday but they were stuck in Datia as the border remained closed. An official said this is why they did not allow further movement of people.
State governments have been scrambling to arrange buses and trains to send migrant workers home after the Centre made an exception for people stranded because of the lockdown and allowed them to travel.
Vishwadeep Singh Parihar, a police inspector in Barwani, said there are pregnant women and couples with kids among the stranded people. “Hence, the administration has decided to arrange transport for such people to send them to the Uttar Pradesh border so that they do not have any problem in staying here and could reach their homes early whenever the border is opened for them.”
A police sub-inspector and two constables were injured on Sunday when angry labourers in Barwani threw stones at police personnel when they were not allowed to enter Madhya Pradesh.
Another official said even though the administration arranged food for labourers at Bijasan, their numbers have swelled and made the arrangements inadequate. “We had not anticipated that Uttar Pradesh will close its borders. Even otherwise it is not possible to provide basic facilities for the stay and food for such a large number of people that too while ensuring social distancing.”
Activists Medha Patkar said people are coming even as the mercury has shot up to 42 degree Celsius using various modes of transport and even barefooted but no one is taking care of them whether it is the Centre or state governments of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Mahrashtra and Gujarat.
The lockdown was imposed first in March and triggered an exodus of jobless migrant workers from big cities. Many of them left for their homes on foot and forced the Centre to ask the states to seal their borders and take care of the workers.
