UP autowallahs head back to Maharashtra

The auto drivers from nearby villages began their journey back to Mumbai on August 12. They drove almost continuously and stopped for a few hours at night and reached Thane on August 16

Harendra Yadav, 32, returned home with his five-member family in the auto he drove for a living in Mumbai when the lockdown imposed in late March to check the Covid-19 pandemic spread left him with no work. His brother, also an auto-rickshaw driver, followed suit and returned home in Ballia 1,700 km away over three days. The two hoped to find some work in their village but there was hardly any, forcing the two to return to Mumbai.

The pandemic has also disrupted family lives apart from livelihoods.(HT Photo)

“There is no [source of] earning in the village. We tried our best to get jobs in the nearby town but in vain. We do not have much land which makes it difficult to sustain ourselves. So, we decided to go back,” said Harendra.

The two and eight other auto drivers from nearby villages began their journey back to Mumbai on August 12. They drove almost continuously and stopped for a few hours at night. “It was very difficult to drive autos on the highway full of traffic but we managed. We spent around ₹6,000 each on fuel and food,” said Yadav.

The group reached Thane on August 16 to find a lot had changed. “I had some problem finding accommodation. Most of the people who worked with us had left for their villages and have not returned. So, it has become difficult to borrow and we get very few passengers,” said Harendra Yadav’s brother, Narendra Yadav.

The pandemic has also disrupted family lives apart from livelihoods. “We did not bring our wives and children this time because it is very difficult to provide for a family in the city without any decent earning,” said Narendra Yadav, a father of five children. He added education of their children has been affected. “I cannot afford to send them to any decent school now. I fear that my children will have a future like me without education.”

Rajesh Yadav, another auto-rickshaw driver, took along his two brothers-in-law, aged 24 and 26. They are graduates but have no hopes of getting jobs in Uttar Pradesh.

“We are tired of looking for jobs. Nobody has a job in Covid-19 times. Now we have come to Mumbai and will do any work we get here,” said Mukesh Singh Yadav, Rajesh Yadav’s brother-in-law.

Dipesh Verma, 28, another auto-rickshaw driver, who returned to Mumbai leaving behind his pregnant wife and three-year-old son, is upset the way the pandemic was handled but is optimistic for a better future. “The government stopped everything when there were very few cases of Covid-19. This forced us to return home. But now we have so many cases of Covid-19... the government is allowing everything to open. We will make the most of the situation and try to secure our lives so that even if the government orders to close everything again we are not forced to return home.”