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DPA
New Delhi
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday apologised for the hardship incurred by the nation’s poor amid the coronavirus lockdown as thousands of desperate migrant workers continued trying to return to their hometowns and villages.
The large-scale movement of these workers and their crowding at border check posts and bus stations across the country has endangered India’s efforts to contain an escalation of the transmission of the virus through social distancing.
Regional governments have been asked to seal their borders and stop the movement of people and allow only goods on highways, Home Ministry spokeswoman Punya Salila Srivastava said.
Those already on the road should be provided food and shelter, their health checked and if needed placed in quarantine, Srivastava said.
Top officials at district levels have been asked to make sure that all out-of-work migrants were paid their wages despite the lockdown and that they were not evicted by landlords for one month.
At a border checkpost between Haryana state and the national capital, a policewoman could be seen trying to persuade a family of migrant workers, including three small children, to return home.
“We waited for three days, now we have no money, no food. No one came to help us. It is better to die at home than die here of hunger,” Savita Devi, 45, said.
Home for her family of construction workers is in the outskirts of Bareilly in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, about 230 kilometres away.
A migrant worker employed in delivery service who left New Delhi on Friday and attempted to walk home to Morena, in Uttar Pradesh state, died of a heart attack after covering about 200 of the 300 kilometres, NDTV news channel reported.
Hundreds were arriving at a bus station on the outskirts of the Indian capital where authorities were arranging transportation to take them home.
In addition to construction, many work in factories or are street vendors.
Several state governments have set up camps for the migrant workers where they are being provided food and shelter.
A few hundred migrants left their camps and crowded a street in Kottayam in Kerala demanding transport home till they were persuaded to disperse by the police, NDTV reported.
India has been in a complete lockdown mode since Tuesday as the country of 1.3 billion people battles to contain the spread of the coronavirus. So far, India has reported 979 cases and 25 deaths.
The inter-state borders are closed as are all markets and organizations except those providing essential services like health care, water and electricity.
No passenger train, flights or buses are operating, leaving the day labourers stranded in often precarious conditions.
People have been asked to stay at home and only step out for essential commodities like groceries, milk and medicine.
“I apologize for taking these harsh steps which have caused difficulties in your lives, especially the poor people,” Modi said during his monthly radio address.
New Delhi
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday apologised for the hardship incurred by the nation’s poor amid the coronavirus lockdown as thousands of desperate migrant workers continued trying to return to their hometowns and villages.
The large-scale movement of these workers and their crowding at border check posts and bus stations across the country has endangered India’s efforts to contain an escalation of the transmission of the virus through social distancing.
Regional governments have been asked to seal their borders and stop the movement of people and allow only goods on highways, Home Ministry spokeswoman Punya Salila Srivastava said.
Those already on the road should be provided food and shelter, their health checked and if needed placed in quarantine, Srivastava said.
Top officials at district levels have been asked to make sure that all out-of-work migrants were paid their wages despite the lockdown and that they were not evicted by landlords for one month.
At a border checkpost between Haryana state and the national capital, a policewoman could be seen trying to persuade a family of migrant workers, including three small children, to return home.
“We waited for three days, now we have no money, no food. No one came to help us. It is better to die at home than die here of hunger,” Savita Devi, 45, said.
Home for her family of construction workers is in the outskirts of Bareilly in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, about 230 kilometres away.
A migrant worker employed in delivery service who left New Delhi on Friday and attempted to walk home to Morena, in Uttar Pradesh state, died of a heart attack after covering about 200 of the 300 kilometres, NDTV news channel reported.
Hundreds were arriving at a bus station on the outskirts of the Indian capital where authorities were arranging transportation to take them home.
In addition to construction, many work in factories or are street vendors.
Several state governments have set up camps for the migrant workers where they are being provided food and shelter.
A few hundred migrants left their camps and crowded a street in Kottayam in Kerala demanding transport home till they were persuaded to disperse by the police, NDTV reported.
India has been in a complete lockdown mode since Tuesday as the country of 1.3 billion people battles to contain the spread of the coronavirus. So far, India has reported 979 cases and 25 deaths.
The inter-state borders are closed as are all markets and organizations except those providing essential services like health care, water and electricity.
No passenger train, flights or buses are operating, leaving the day labourers stranded in often precarious conditions.
People have been asked to stay at home and only step out for essential commodities like groceries, milk and medicine.
“I apologize for taking these harsh steps which have caused difficulties in your lives, especially the poor people,” Modi said during his monthly radio address.
