E-Paper
Violating lockdown norms for 1,700km, 49 migrants reach Maharajganj
Forty-eight migrant labourers are natives of Badhara Shivnath, Jamhurakala Belwa, Gujarwaliya, Baikniha, Chapwa and Mainyahwa villages in Maharajganj district while one labourer is a resident of a village bordering Nepal.
Forty-nine migrant workers, all residents of Maharajganj district in Uttar Pradesh, travelled around 1,700 km in a truck from Pune to their native place Kolhui in the district, blatantly flouting the nationwide lockdown norms that is in force since March 25.
Superintendent of police, Maharajganj, Rohit Singh Sajwan said over phone that during checking on the highway on Friday morning, policemen saw a moving truck covered with tarpaulin. The truck had a Maharashtra number and a slip pasted on the windscreen wherein it was written ‘Essential Services’.
On suspicion, the policemen stopped it at barrier and asked the driver to remove the tarpaulin and, to their surprise, found 49 migrant workers seated inside, Sajwan said. The policemen then informed senior officers about the truck and the migrants.
The police seized the truck and arrested the driver while the migrants were quarantined in the nearby Bhagirathpur Inter College.
The police have also lodged an FIR against the owner of the truck and informed the Maharashtra police about the incident. A probe has been ordered as to how the truck moved from distant Pune to Maharajganj during the lockdown, Sajwan said.
Forty-eight migrant labourers are natives of Badhara Shivnath, Jamhurakala Belwa, Gujarwaliya, Baikniha, Chapwa and Mainyahwa villages in Maharajganj district while one labourer is a resident of a village bordering Nepal.
“The migrants wanted to be sent to their respective villages but the police team took them to the quarantine facility. They were served food and given medicines,” said station house officer Ram Sahay Chauhan.
The migrants had left Pune for Maharajganj on April 14 night crossing Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and several districts of UP before they reached Maharajganj on Friday morning.
A migrant labour named Shiv said they worked in a factory in Pune. During the lockdown period they managed to live on their meagre savings and food till April 14. When the lockdown was extended till May 3, they decided to leave for home. They contacted their factory owner, who provided the truck to transport them to their villages, he said.
The migrants said around Rs 3 lakh was spent on the truck fare, fuel, food and other items that they have to pay back to the owner once they return to Pune after the lockdown, he said.
