Most workers are so desperate to meet their families that they dont want to waste time waiting for govt relief which, they say, is very slow.With the battle of survival getting tough with each passing day and the speed of government’s relief only too slow, the hapless migrant workers continue reaching homes on foot, cycles, rickshaws, goods trucks, hiding inside water tankers or concrete mixture trucks.

Many have reached home walking 1,500 to 1,800 km on foot, indicating they no longer want to stay away from their families.

Take the case of Sujit Kumar, Mukesh Kumar Yadva and Manish Kumar who reached their home in Siwan district from Telangana on Saturday after walking 1,500 km on foot in 15 days.

“We had been pushed to the brink of starvation after all factories were shut and we had no money to buy food. Eventually, we decided to reach home on foot,” Sujit told the media after he reached his home town.

According to the youths, they took the help of Google map to find ways to reach their home state although their mobile phones got switched off midway for not being able to charge them.

The case of Harivansh Chaudhary, a resident of Darbhanga town, is more hairraising. The 32-year-old youth who worked in a steel factory in Maharashtra had only Rs 240 in his pocket when he was told to go home after the lockdown was enforced.

Left with no option, he joined a group of migrant workers walking along the railway tracks on foot and finally reached his home, trekking 1,800 kmlong distance in 27 days. “This was my last journey. Will never go out of my house in future. Will die but never leave my home state. The kind of torture I faced in life just can’t be erased from my memories,” declares Chaudhay.

Another five youths from Siwan reached their homes from Meerut, a town in Uttar Pradesh, on foot on Sunday, covering more than 900 km in nine days.

“We had no money to buy food. So staying there would simply mean our death from hunger,” says Ramesh Kumar, one of the youths in the group.

According to him, they would walk at night and would take rest under trees in the morning. They would seek food knocking doors of villagers on way and move forward. They have no plans to go out for jobs in future.

The case of 55-year-old Sidheshwar Prasad, a resident of Banke Bazar block from Gaya district, is no less petrifying.

The man who was employed in a factory in Haryana’s Ballabhgarh, was asked by his employer to quit job saying there was no hope of resumption of works in near future due to corona fear. He was also told to leave the factory campus. Faced with shelter problem and not enough money to buy food, he eventually left for his home on cycle, and reached home, covering some 1,100 km distance in 17 days.

Right now, he had no work yet he doesn’t want to go out.

He plans to search for job in nearby areas after the situation gets normal. Migrant workers are pouring in every day without waiting for the government’s trains to reach them. Most of them are so desperate to meet their families that they don’t want to waste their time waiting for government relief anymore.

Yet there are several families who have been earnestly awaiting return of their kin and somehow surviving on meager food in the absence of monthly remittance their used to send homes. No green zone in Bihar: None of the 38 districts of Bihar has been classified as a green zone, Director General of Police Gupteshwar Pandey said Monday, urging residents to remain indoors and not mistake movement of people for essential or government services as a relaxation in lockdown curbs, adds PTI.

“All 38 districts are either in the red zone, where the restrictions will be in place in the most stringent form, or in the orange zone, where local administration may allow some activities,” Pandey said.

The DGP said the coming few days will be crucial as “a large number of our brethren” are returning home and many of them may be carrying the coronavirus without necessarily being aware about it. “If we save ourselves, we will save Bihar,” he said, replying to queries from journalists about what concessions could be expected in the wake of the Centre allowing resumption of some economic activities in the green zone, and to a lesser degree in the orange zone. During the past fortnight, the total number of cases has shot up from just over 100 to more than 500 and many districts, including Samastipur, have reported their first cases only last week.

“Hence, all citizens are urged to not get mistaken by vehicles parked outside offices that may have been allowed to function with skeletal staff. If they are found loitering, they will be punished like before,” Pandey said.