Migrant exodus

 

On 19th May, 2020 India reached one lakh confirmed COVID-19 cases. At a time when the virus was spreading rapidly, a widespread panic surged among the people, leading to an overwhelming interstate movement of stranded daily-wage migrant workers on foot.

The Indian Railways started ‘Shramik’ special trains to evacuate migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students, and others stranded in different cities owing to an overnight nationwide lockdown imposed on March 27.

 

Hundreds of migrant workers walked, cycled, hitchhiked their way to outskirts of Hyderabad to access national highways. Upon reaching there, they were issued travel passes, and buses were arranged to take them to railway stations or to their States directly.

 

Apart from state-run transport services, there were many truckers willing to drop the migrant workers at the State borders illegally at exorbitant prices. One such migrant worker said, “Most truck drivers charged us between Rs.1,500 and Rs.3,000 per head.” With no jobs and no income during the previous two months, these daily wage earners and their families further fell into debt traps just so they could get back to the safety of their homes.

Camps were set up by local NGOs and police on national highways where food and water were provided to the migrants.

A special booth was also set up for migrant women and children. The SHO of Medchal police, Praveen Reddy, personally ensured that anybody who wished to leave was not left behind. He also made sure every person traveling had sufficient water, and distributed packets of food enough to last their journeys. He converted a function hall into a camp from where he got his team of police personnel to help stranded students and workers who wished to travel back.

At a time when there was confusion all around on obtaining the travel passes, he made sure to make the experience seamless and hassle free for everybody. On reaching the camp, the workers were segregated based on the States they were going to and travel passes were issued to them immediately. Then they were made to get on their respective buses, handed food and water. These buses then took them to railway stations from where they boarded the Shramik special trains to their respective States. Praveen Reddy and his men waited till the last of the passengers was on board before going home. The migrant workers had been stranded in Hyderabad for two months.