Migrants, police clash in Surat, over 100 detained
SURAT: Hundreds of migrant workers came onto the streets and clashed with the police at a village in Surat district of Gujarat on Saturday to demand that they either be sent back to their home states or be allowed to resume work at local industrial units to earn money, police said.
The police resorted to lathicharge and fired tear gas to disperse the mob. Over 100 workers were detained in this connection, an official said.
The incident took place at Mora village near industrial town of Hazira.
“Over 1 0 0 workers were detained after they took to the streets, demanding that they either be sent back home or allowed to work at the industrial units they were employed at in Hazira and paid salaries,” joint commissioner of police (Sector 2) D N Patel said.
Protesting workers came out of their homes in the workers’ colony at Mora vil l age and started walking in a large group towards Hazira industrial area, he said.
The migrants demanded that the district administration should arrange for their return to their hometowns in Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and other states, Patel said.
“Some workers hurled stones at the police, after which four tear gas shells were lobbed and we had to resort to baton charge to control the unruly mob,” Patel said.
Cases were being registered on the basis on CCTV footage from the area, the senior official said, adding that the situation was currently under control.
Accordi ng t o t he Union Health Ministry, Gujarat is the second most affected state due to
COVID-19 after Maharashtra with 7,402 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases and 449 deaths so far.
Accordi ng t o t he Union Health Ministry, the total count of t he country has reached 59,662 with 1,981 deaths.
Meanwhile, experts from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences visited the civil hospital in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad city on Saturday and interacted with frontline staff amid concerns over the rise in COVID-19 fatalities, an official release stated.