‘No work here’, Pune labourers take the highway to home

On Tuesday, there were reports of a heavy rush on the Katraj to Dehu road bypass highway where hundreds of workers were spotted

After lockdown restrictions were eased in some parts of the city, migrant labourers around the city have begun walking back home. In the past week, there has been a heavy displacement of labourers on the highways. On Tuesday, there were reports of a heavy rush on the Katraj to Dehu road bypass highway where hundreds of workers were spotted, around 3-4 private tourist buses were scheduled to take a group of labourers to Rajasthan.

Stranded migrants take rest at a parking lot, violating social distancing norms, as they wait for a bus at Wagholi. (Pratham Gokhale/HT Photo)

“We had applied to go back to our village in Rajasthan and got the required pass, but didn’t have a vehicle. So we, a group of 25 people booked a private bus to go back and accordingly are now going back in this sleeper coach bus. Though it is costly, we just want to go back to our village,” said Bhuralal Mishra one of the workers who was travelling back home with his family of four members.

Another migrant worker from Bhopal, Vikas Pande was seen running on the highway. He said there is no work available in the city at the moment.

“My contractor who gave us work in a factory has run away and we were living in a shelter house in Kondhwa area. Now me and 4 other workers have started walking towards Mumbai through the bypass highway and will reach our village by any means,” Pande said.

Talking about the issue of stranded migrant workers in the district and arrangements of transport to send them back, Pune district collector Naval Kishore Ram said all stranded migrant labourers who want to go back to their states from Pune district will be sent by proper travel arrangements.

“We are working round the clock to help them out. Once we get permission from the respective state and if the number is large we make arrangements for a train to send the stranded people back. I request all not to walk riskily through highways and travel with proper permissions, transport mode and by taking all the precautionary measures,” Ram said.