Migrant workers in Uttar Pradesh walk hundreds of kms to reach home

Fleeing from their workplaces in cities like Delhi and Noida after the countrywide lockdown in the wake of coronavirus outbreak, the migrant workers have been riding in milk tankers, cycle rickshaws and even walking hundreds of kilometres to reach their homes in Uttar Pradesh.

While some migrant workers were seen walking on the highways under the scorching sun, many others tried to reach their destination simply by walking along the railway tracks.

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In at least one instance, a youth, who worked in Mumbai, reached his home town of Sonebhadra, about 450 kilometres from here, riding his scooty.

According to the sources, the police intercepted hundreds of migrant workers and their families in UP's Bulandshahar district, who were walking on the highway. Most of them were workers at factories in Noida and Delhi.

The cops arranged food and water for the starving migrant workers and also got them medically checked, sources said adding that the administration was trying to arrange them to send them home by buses.

Reports said that scores of migrant workers left for their home towns by cycle rickshaw. A group of 12 migrant workers were found riding cycle rickshaw. They were on way to Balrampur district in the state from Ambala in Haryana.

Police in Chandauli district intercepted 16 youths, who were walking along the railway tracks. They said that they had left Delhi a few hours before the national lockdown was declared. They got a lift in a truck up to Varanasi and from there they started walking, the police said.

According to another report, around 25 persons, who worked as a daily wager in Varanasi, left for their home town in Madhya Pradesh on foot.