Around 1000 migrant workers at Mora village near the industrial area of Hazira in Surat staged a protest on Saturday, demanding the district administration to arrange for their return to their natives.
Surat Joint Commissioner of Police, DN Patel, told news agency ANI that a ‘reasonable force’ of State Reserve Police was deployed in the area to pacify the situation. The police arrested 55-60 people and detained 60.
At around 8 am today, around 500-1000 people gathered here demanding they be sent back to their respective states. Reasonable force was used, around 55-60 were arrested, and around 50-60 have also been detained: D N Patel, Surat Joint Commissioner of Police https://t.co/HShbJ5Zw9y pic.twitter.com/bT8V5piinw
— ANI (@ANI) May 9, 2020
He said the police resorted to ‘mild’ lathi-charge and tear gas shelling to disperse the crowd.
‘We told them that a large number of workers have [already] been sent to their home states by the government, and similar arrangements would be made for them too,’ H.R. Brahmbhatt, Inspector at Ichapur Police Station informed Reuters.
This incident happened a day after residents in Ahmedabad clashed with paramilitary forces.
Gagan Bihari Sahu, an associate professor at Surat’s Centre for Social Studies spoke to Hindustan Times stating the hard hit migrants have received amid the nationwide lockdown.
‘The production has come to a standstill, machines are quiet and markets are closed. In spite of the government’s appeal, many employers have either removed their workers, deducted salaries or simply closed doors,’ he said. ‘How are these migrants and their families going to sustain?’ Hindustan Tomes quoted Sahu.
Earlier this week, a similar case was reported, where migrant workers protested outside a market in Vareli in Surat, demanding their return and allegedly threw stones at the police force. Almost 204 people were arrested on charges of violation and rioting in the case.
Another incident took place around April 29 in Surat, where 300 people were booked and five people were detained for alleged rioting and violation of the lockdown after migrant workers clashed with police personnel.
Surat has a maximum number of migrants and most of them hail from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha, working in textiles, power looms and construction sites.
The special ‘Shramik’ trains run by the government has so far ferried about 2.61 lakh workers to their homes in 251 trains, as reported by the Indian Railways on Thursday.
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