Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had ordered that no migrant should be allowed movement on foot, cycle or unauthorized vehicles and asked the UP administration to arrange for their food and shelter and provide them with buses to finish their remaining journeys safely.
Soon after the Chief Minister issued this directive, entry was stopped at all entry points of the state capital. (Photo by SANJAY KANOJIA / AFP)
A day after 26 labourers were killed and at least 15 injured when the truck they were travelling in collided with another in Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya district, hundreds of migrant workers were stopped by police at many borders of the state on Sunday while they were returning to their native villages amid the lockdown.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had ordered that no migrant should be allowed movement on foot, cycle or unauthorized vehicles and asked the UP administration to arrange for their food and shelter and provide them with buses to finish their remaining journeys safely.
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The UP State Roadways Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) has started deploying buses in various districts of Uttar Pradesh to carry migrants to their respective destinations.
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“We will send the number of buses required in various districts on the written requests of the district magistrates. We have also directed our drivers and conductors that while coming back after dropping migrants to their destination, if they see other migrants walking on foot, they should make them board empty buses and drop them at pick up points on district borders,” said UPSRTC MD Raj Shekhar.
The buses will be deployed at the pick-up points on the borders of all districts.
After the Auraiyya road mishap on Saturday morning in which 24 migrants were killed, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath ordered that no migrant should be allowed movement on foot, cycle or unauthorized vehicles.
In a meeting through video conferencing with all district magistrates that ended around midnight on Saturday, the chief minister said that if migrants were found walking to their destinations, the concerned officials would face action.
He said that all migrants should be stopped at the entry points, given food and water and then subjected to medical screening. “After this procedure, the migrants should be taken to their destinations in buses,” he ordered.
Soon after the chief minister issued this directive, entry was stopped at all entry points of the state capital.
Meanwhile, Lucknow Police Commissioner Sujeet Pandey said, “Two inspectors, eight sub-inspectors, and 30 constables, besides one company of PAC will be deployed at every entry point. Migrant workers will not be allowed to move on foot, auto, tempo, cycles or on trucks. They will be taken to their destination on buses.”
Today long queues of vehicle were seen at the Lucknow-Kanpur highway.
At Raksa, on the UP-MP border in Jhansi, the traffic jam extended to almost 20 kilometers on Sunday morning.
In western UP’s Saharanpur many migrants were seen protesting this morning as they were stopped by police. Some buses reached there to finish their journey.
“We have brought them to a shelter home using the buses. Most of these people are from far off places so we are trying to arrange for trains for them for their onward journeys,” Akhilesh Singh, Saharanpur District Magistrate told reporters.
Amid the nationwide lockdown, thousands of daily wagers and other migrants have undertaken epic journeys to reach home — walking, cycling and hitching rides when they could — in the absence of any public transport and getting killed in the process. Many of them have met with road accidents.
The nationwide lockdown, which began on March 25, was first extended till April 14, then till May 3 and finally till May 17 with a few relaxations built in. The unprecedented move to stem the spread of COVID-19 triggered possibly the biggest movement of people since Partition.
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