8-month pregnant woman walks over 100 km on way to village
MEERUT: An eight-month pregnant woman and her husband were forced to walk over 100 km, from Saharanpur to reach their village in Bulandshahr district, after the husband’s employer turned them out without providing them money or any other help following the nationwide lockdown.
The exhausted woman and her husband arrived at Sohrab gate bus stand in Meerut on Saturday to look for a public transport. Local residents Naveen Kumar and Ravindra spotted the couple and informed sub-inspector of Nauchandi police station
Prempal Singh about their plight.
Ashutosh Kumar, SHO of Nauchandi police station, said the S-I and local residents gave the couple food and some cash and also arranged for an ambulance to drop them at their village Amargarh, in Syana area of Bulandshahr.
Kumar said that the couple, Vakil and Yasmeen, arrived here after covering a distance of over 100 km on foot from Saharanpur where Vakil was employed in a
factory.
The woman was exhausted after covering such a long distance on foot during the past two days.
Yasmeen told the cops that they lived in a room given by the factory owner. “But he asked us to vacate it after the lockdown was announced and refused to give us any money to go our village,” she said.
With no alternative, the couple started walking on Thursday from Saharanpur to reach their village. Yasmeen said that they had no food for the past two days because of the complete closure of dhabas and eateries along the highway.
To note, thousands of migrant workers from villages are fleeing cities which have come to a halt following the lock-down to control Sars-Cov-2. Many of them are unable to find transport and forced to walk hundreds of kilometres, braving hunger and exhaustion.