Photos: Lockdown on, and a long walk home for India’s migrant workers
Updated On Mar 27, 2020 03:18 PM IST
Tens of thousands of workers are walking back to their villages on foot with little waiting back home in the wake of the nationwide lockdown. The suspension all public transport during the 21-day lockdown against the coronavirus has forced migrant workers and daily wagers across the country, having been laid off or running out of money, to take to roads and highways on foot in hope of a return to the safety of their hometowns amid uncertain economic prospects.
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Migrant workers walk towards their hometowns on day 2 of the nationwide lockdown in Mumbai. Stranded after the lockdown, thousands of such workers are walking back to their villages and towns from their places of work hundreds of kilometers away. (Kunal Patil / PTI)
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A group of migrant workers, their belongings bundled atop their heads, walk home, on the NH24 near Delhi-UP Border in New Delhi. Some of them have cooking gas stoves with them, others are begging on the way, and the rest are trying to suppress their hunger while they desperately look for any mode of transport to get back home. (Ravi Choudhary / PTI)
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Migrant workers on foot walk towards their home in Bareilly in the absence of any means of transportation, in Moradabad. According to the 2011 Census, 54 million or nearly 5% people living in India migrated to their present state of residence from some other state. A quarter of them, or about 13 million people, migrated for economic reasons such as work, employment or business. (PTI)
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A woman holding a packet on her head walks past the Western Express highway on the second day of the lockdown in Mumbai. More than half of these 13 million migrated out of just three states – Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan. More than half went to four states – Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat and Karnataka, primary driven to urban clusters such as Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru. (ANI)
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In Surat, migrant workers ( largely labourers) with their families halt alongside a road after they couldn't find transport to return home. Starved of economic opportunities, workers make their way through formal, informal, family and clan networks into a variety of jobs. Millions of women work as labourers, domestic help, cooks and cleaners. They are at particular risk of Covid-19 because they live in cramped quarters. (PTI)
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Migrant workers walk on railway tracks in Ghaziabad. Many migrants on the move have faced harassment from the police. Videos and television visuals from across India showed workers being allegedly forced to crawl on roads, made to do sit-ups and kneel down on the side of highways. (Arun Sharma / PTI)
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Kashmiri porters walk on a road during the lockdown in Shimla. A number of state governments have now set up community kitchens and some states such as Odisha have allowed eateries to open along the highways so that the labourers can get food and water. Some states such as Delhi, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have made night shelters operational. (PTI)
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