Maha police stops migrants

Around 600 who are stuck in Mumbai due to lockdown want to return home

Around 600 people from Telangana state, who were stuck in Mumbai during the lockdown and were returning home, were stopped by Maharashtra police at the border. Anxious to be with their families, they are appealing to the state government to intervene and ensure their passage.

Narrating his experience, Subrahmanyam, a construction worker, said “We have been living in miserable conditions in Mumbai since the lockdown was imposed. We went to sleep for several days on empty stomach. We are desperate to return to our home towns.” Speaking to Deccan Chronicle from Mumbai, social activist Ramesh Ayan Kondra, who is helping people to return to Telangana state, said “there are around 600 people from Telangana state who want to go to their villages. They are suffering a lot due to non-availability of even essential commodities.”

He added, “I have been trying to help them. But many of them are being stopped at the state borders and not allowed to proceed. Only those with some influence are being allowed,” he alleged.

Appealing to the TS government that they should be allowed to cross the border, he said, “They don’t have any issues being in home quarantine. The government can keep them in isolated shelter homes outside their villages. At least, they will not starve.”

● A CONSTRUCTION WORKER, said, “We have been living in miserable conditions in Mumbai since the lockdown was imposed. We went to sleep for several days on empty stomach.”

● ANXIOUS TO BE with their families, they are appealing to the state government to intervene and ensure their passage.