‘DIVYANG’ WALKS ON CRUTCHES FOR 4 DAYS
MEERUT : After losing his job in Ludhiana during the lockdown following the Covid-19 pandemic, ‘divyang’ Ketar Paswan started dragging himself on crutches to reach his native place Aurangabad in Bihar. Braving heat, hunger and inability to walk, Paswan arrived in Saharanpur on Sunday after trudging for four days, illustrating how those worst affected by the lockdown would resort to extreme measures to survive. A group of roadways bus drivers and their helpers spotted him and Ketar burst into tears while narrating his tale of woe.
He said he lost his job in Ludhiana during the lockdown and after seeing everyone marching towards their native places, he also decided to follow suit. So he started walking with the help of his crutches to reach his village in Aurangabad, Bihar.
He said it took him four days to reach Saharanpur from Ludhiana and on the way, people helped him by providing food. “I heard of the mahamari (pandemic) and so I decided to go to my village,” he said with tears in his eyes. He pleaded with the drivers with folded hands to take him in a vehicle to drop him at Aurangabad. The driver of a roadways bus offered his food packet to the hungry Ketar and assured him that he would be dropped at his destination. A relaxed Ketar then sat under a tree, ate the food and thanked his sympathisers for helping him.
To note, the district administration had arranged over 150 buses to drop migrant labourers to Bihar border after thousands of them came out on the road on Sunday morning and protested.