Police personnel stop commuters and ask valid reason to come out during lockdown in New Delhi, India, March 24, 2020. (Xinhua/Partha Sarkar)
With no economic activity, thousands of poor labourers in India are migrating back to their villages and in the absence of public transport covering the distance they go back to home by walking.
by Peerzada Arshad Hamid
NEW DELHI, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Ranjeet Das, a construction labourer who had brought his family to live in capital city New Delhi, on Saturday embarked on a journey back home on foot. The 40-year-old Das, his wife Methali and three children have to reach Sitamarhi district in the eastern Indian state of Bihar.
Das's family migrated to the capital in 2015 for better prospects and life. The family since then had been living in Delhi to make ends meet besides saving for the rainy days.
The family of five on Saturday packed their bags and took the road to reach back to their village. The five have to walk over 1,100 km to reach their village.
With no work available and strict lockdown prevalent in the capital city, the family was finding it difficult to survive at the rented accommodation.
Photo taken on March 25, 2020 shows an empty road in Kochi, India's southern state of Kerala. (Str/Xinhua)
"The sudden announcement of lockdown from the prime minister has bring the life to halt. With no work available for me and my wife, it was becoming difficult to live here," Das said.
"Since Wednesday I have only been spending and not earning anything, so I could see that after a few days if the condition remains the same, we would be forced to starve."
With no economic activity, like Das, there are thousands of others, who are migrating back to their villages and in the absence of public transport covering the distance they go back to home simply by walking.
On Tuesday evening Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his second televised address to the nation urged all Indians to stay at home for three weeks. Modi said a strict 21-day lockdown would be in place to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
The sudden announcement saw suspension of road, rail and air transport services across the country. It paralyzed life of over 1.3 billion people and trapped millions of migrant workers affiliated with the unorganized informal sector in the country's main cities. The lockdown has also triggered panic over access to food and basic necessities.
Modi's announcement followed strict measures from authorities in enforcing the lockdown. Reports pouring in from various states over the past three days said police have sealed various shops and vehicles of violators. Even photographs of policemen beating people, and handing them punishment on the spot for "violating" the lockdown went viral on social media.
People prepare food for the needy people on the third day of the lockdown in Kochi, India, on March 27, 2020. (Str/Xinhua)
"For people who have a regular income, this lockdown doesn't matter but for us who are daily-wagers and live in the rented shanties, it means a looming threat of hunger," said Anand Mishra, another labourer. "We don't have any option but to go back to our families or else, we will die here because of hunger."
Reports said thousands of labourers including their women and children have gathered in the outskirts of Delhi, desperately trying to reach their homes. The photographs showed labourers carrying their children on shoulders and walking towards the destination.
The Indian government took the measure of shutting down the country in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. On Saturday India's health ministry said the death toll due to COVID-19 in India had risen to 19 and the number of confirmed cases in the country stood at 918.
India's federal finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a relief package of 22.6 billion U.S. dollars (INR 170000 Crore) for the poor through cash transfer and food subsidy amid lockdown. However, the announcement has failed to stop thousands of these migrant labourers from going back.
A note of "PLEASE KEEP DISTANCE" is seen at a pharmacy in Agartala, India's northeast state of Tripura, on March 28, 2020. (Str/Xinhua)
Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal said both the Uttar Pradesh government and the Delhi government have arranged buses for the stranded workers.
"The Delhi government's nearly 100 buses and the Uttar Pradesh government's nearly 200 buses are ferrying people trying to walk on foot," Kejriwal said. "I still appeal to everyone to stay where they are and obey the lockdown. To fight coronavirus the only way out is to stay inside."
Meanwhile, the government has started to face criticism over its abrupt and "unplanned" lockdown.
Senior Congress party leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram on Saturday questioned the government's preparedness by writing on twitter "Back to villages in crowded buses or on foot has significantly dented the lockdown. It is another distressing example of the government's unpreparedness."■