Migrant crisis caused by coronavirus: hundreds of migrants have been blocked by the national blockade
New Delhi:
Hundreds of migrants line up outside coronavirus testing centers across Delhi, despite vicious heat waves and scorching temperatures, desperately hoping to be declared COVID-19 free and secure a seat on special trains for their home states. origin.
Unemployed and without money, men, pregnant women and children wait, hope and pray for hours, even at temperatures close to 50 degrees Celsius in parts of the city, to be told that the “shramik“the trains will not run.
In a screening center west of Vinod Nagar in Delhi, for example, migrants waiting 24 hours were told that there would be no train to Bihar for the next three days.
“We will die like this … because of hunger. I have been here for 11 hours yesterday (Tuesday). We have not even received water and the police continue to threaten us,” said Karishma Devi, 29 years old, at GalacticGaming. Karishma Devi, who is eight months pregnant, is looking for a train for Saharsa from Bihar after her husband, an air conditioning technician, has been evicted from her home for non-payment of rent.
“I have also been here for 11 hours yesterday, after receiving a late night message that our train will leave in the morning. But we saw the message late and, by the time we arrived, we were told that the train was We left overnight but only got water and cookies, “said Ashok, who wants to return to the Madhubhani district of Bihar.
Furious migrants from Bihar attack chief minister Nitish Kumar and his government
“I have been here for 4 hours yesterday and I only had water and cookies. We stayed overnight. We were told there was a train, so we came. But now we are says there will be no train for three days, “Shaqib, 25, who also wants to return to Saharsa in Bihar, told GalacticGaming.
Another trapped migrant, furious with the chaos and the government’s apparent reluctance to help, went wild against Bihar’s chief minister, Nitish Kumar: “I spent the whole night waiting … my mother is dead at home. I want to ask Nitish Kumar and the Government of Bihar – What are you doing for Biharis? “
Last week, Nitish Kumar appealed to all migrant workers seeking to return home so as not to panic and trust his government. A statement from the administration told the migrants that it was taking all possible measures to bring them home.
According to the protocol established by the railways, migrants registered to travel on “shramik“Trains are informed of the date and time of departure. On the morning of departure, they must report to a control center and, if they pass the thermal test, are issued a certificate before being transported to the station.
However, while the center and the state are arguing over the functioning of the “shramik“The trains, the central government alleging that the states are blocking the movement of trains, it is the defenseless migrants who seem to be caught in the middle.
In Maharashtra, for example, while Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal were arguing that the state was not providing enough information, thousands of migrants gathered on Tuesday outside stations Mumbai.
