Migrants workers head back to villagers but no fear of Covid-19 this time

“We have hardly come across any family who was leaving the city because of the Covid cases,” a police official said.

Even though there is an unusual rush of people across interstate bus stations and railway stations, most of the migrants said they were going back to their villages for harvest season, festivals and local body polls in Uttar Pradesh with some admitting that they feared a complete lockdown.

Large number of migrant workers arriving from Maharashtra rest outside Patna Junction, Bihar. (Santosh Kumar /Hindustan Times)

In Mumbai, amid talk of a complete lockdown to arrest the Covid-19 surge, the passenger rush on outstation trains in Mumbai has increased since the last weekend, Railway officials said on Tuesday, attributing the increase to the summer season during which a large number of people travel to their native places.

“Trains were completely full but since the last few days there has been more rush,” said a Railway official at Mumbai’s Lokmanya Tilak Terminus.

The officials familiar with the developments said the rush on outstation trains has gone up since the state government announced fresh Covid-19 curbs earlier this month, the weekend saw a steady flow of passengers on long-distance trains originating from different stations in the metropolis.

Speculation is rife about the Maharashtra government mulling a “complete lockdown” to curb the current surge in Covid-19 cases. The state registered an all-time high spike of 63,294 infections on Sunday.

“Panchayat elections are scheduled in Uttar Pradesh and hence many people are going for voting,” he said, adding there may be some migrant labourers among the passengers but their number is “negligible” as compared to the last year.

A Central Railway spokesperson said they are operating 12 of the 88 scheduled summer special trains for North India, apart from 18-20 regular special trains for Darbhanga, Patna, Danapur, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Manduadih, Puri, Raxaul and Guwahati, among other destinations.

“The Railway administration appeals to people to avoid panic booking. The Railway runs more trains in summer for the convenience of passengers,” Shivaji Sutar, chief public relations officer, Central Railway, said.

At Delhi’s Anand Vihar and Kaushambi inter-state bus terminals, there has been a rise in the footfall of passengers travelling between Delhi-NCR and Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand.

“Many workers in the car spare parts manufacturing factory in Gurugram where I work were discussing for the last two days that the government will impose lockdown and the factory will be closed. It may be all rumours. But it’s better to return now than facing the situation that we witnessed last year. We will return to Delhi on April 22 if there is no lockdown,” said Sundaram Singh, who was returning to his village in Gorakhpur with his wife, Ritu Singh, and two children.

Waiting at the Anand Vihar interstate bus terminals with five other relatives for a bus to her hometown in Uttar Pradesh’s Hardoi, Rameshwari, a 45-year-old woman who lives with her family in Faridabad and works as domestic help, said that their travel had nothing to do anything with the fear of rising Covid-19 cases.

“One Pappu from our village is contesting the elections for the post of Gram Pradhan. He had been continuously requesting our presence to vote for him. He has agreed to bear all our travel expenses. As we depend on our pradhan for many of our works, we have to support him during the voting. We will return after the elections,” said Rameshwari.

A police officer from the Patparganj Industrial Area police station, who did not want to be named, said that they have also been monitoring the situation and the police personnel on field duty have been speaking to the passengers about their purpose of visiting their hometown.

“We have hardly come across any family who was leaving the city because of the Covid cases. Some did mention the lockdown anticipation but even they did not cite it as the reason for their travel,” the officer said, adding that they have been telling passengers not to believe any rumours and report to the police if they see anyone spreading the lies.

In Ludhiana, which witnessed a huge exodus of workers last year during the lockdown, industry owners and workers said there was no fear of Covid-19 pushing the workers to return to their villages.

According to Onkar Singh Pahwa, chairman and managing director of Avon Cycles, there is no shortage of workers. “The labour is not going anywhere in large numbers. The ones who went back are those who go to their villages for reasons of harvesting at this time of the year every year,” said Pahwa. DS Chawla, president, United Cycle Parts Manufacturers Association (UCPMA) said there is no such shortage or reverse influx of labour is happening in Ludhiana.

Rajesh Aggarwal, divisional railway manager, Ferozpur division said that there is no rush of passengers or labourers on railway stations across Ferozpur division. The railway officials are allowing only those passengers to board the trains who have confirmed RAC tickets and are following the Covid-19 protocols, he said.