Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the nationwide lockdown on March 25, migrant workers across the nation. With transport services suspended, lakhs of migrant workers resorted to treading the journey to their hometowns hundreds of kilometres away on foot. According to various reports, at least 22 workers have died amidst the exodus.
Since March 25, thousands of daily wagers along with their families, could be seen walking along interstate highways. With no work and money, many are stranded in various cities and are struggling to find a means for food. For violating the lockdown, many of these workers were also beaten by the police.
At least five migrants, including a one-year-old, hailing from UP were killed and eight others critically injured on Sunday, March 29, after being hit by a truck on KMP (Kundli Manesar Palwal Expressway) in Haryana,The Weekreported. The group was reportedly walking from Manesar to UP and had halted near Panchgaon when a speeding truck ferrying vegetables rammed into them.
On Saturday, March 28, a 38-year-old man who had walked over 200 km from Delhi to reach his hometown in Madhya Pradesh, collapsed and died on the way. The man, identified as Ranveer Singh, worked as a delivery agent for a private restaurant in the national capital.
Singh had started walking to his village in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena which is around 326 km from Delhi. Reportedly, he was still 100 km away when he complained of chest pain and collapsed.
In another incident early morning on Saturday, four migrant workers who were turned back by the police from Bhillad on the Maharashtra Gujarat border and were walking back to Vasai were killed after being run over by a truck at Virar on the Mumbai – Gujarat highway. The four were part of a group of seven who were trying to reach their villages in Rajasthan after crossing into Gujarat. The three sustained injuries.
While the driver fled the spot, he was later arrested. The seven worked at a tea stall and canteens in Mumbai and its suburbs.
In another road accident, eight persons, including an 18-month-old boy who were part of a group of migrant labourers returning home in Karnataka’s Raichur district, died in a road accident on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Friday night,The Indian Expressreported.
The eight were a part of 31 migrant workers employed by a construction firm in Suryapet district of Telangana who were travelling in an open truck when their vehicle was hit by a truck loaded with mangoes at Pedda Golconda on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) towards Hyderabad.
On Tuesday, March 24, four people, including a one-year-old baby, died in a forest fire at Rasingapuram in Theni district of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday night while taking the forest route,The Hindureported. They were part of a group of 10 people who were walking through a dry canal when the forest fire engulfed them at around 2:30 pm.