Protest by migrants stokes traffic chaos after UP govt seals border
AFTER ACCIDENTS Workers stopped from travelling on trucks, cycles or foot
The Yogi Adityanath government’s decision to seal the state’s borders took hundreds of migrant workers at the Uttar Pradesh heading home by surprise, leading to chaos at many points.
After the deaths of 26 migrant workers in a road accident in Auraiya district on Saturday, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had ordered not allowing any migrant worker travelling in trucks, cycles or on foot to enter the state. Instead, the government ordered they be provided buses and trains for their home journey. However, these took time to be arranged.
In the mean time, in the 13 UP districts that shares borders with Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana chaos reigned. District and police officers struggled to convince the irate people that arrangements were being made to take them home.
The migrant workers had made long and arduous journey to reach this far. They also became restive as many were close to their destinations. “We travelled over 1,000 kms with little to eat and drink in this scorching heat and now when our homes are barely hundred kilometers away, we are being told we can’t move ahead,” one said.
In Saharanpur, over 3,000 migrant workers who arrived from Punjab and Haryana came out on roads and created ruckus over the delay in arranging transport for their onward journey. Police used mild force to quell them, and to pacify them, announcements were made that buses and trains were being arranged.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP), Saharanpur, Dinesh Kumar P said trouble erupted after rumours among the migrants at Radha Swami Satsang Ashram on Ambala Road that they would be held there for two to three months. Police informed them that 1,320 migrants were already sent on a train, and that buses were being arranged for the rest. “The situation is now under control,” he said.
In Jhansi, police were seen asking migrant workers on trucks at the border to deboard. But the unconvinced workers shouted slogans against the state government and police. “There was chaos due to confusion among migrants that we were not allowing their entry, but when they were told that the administration was arranging buses for their safe journey, the matter was sorted out. They were taken to a nearby shelter and later boarded buses to their destinations,” said SP City Jhansi Rahul Srivastava.
At Agra and Mathura border, migrants entering the state from Rajasthan’s Bharatpur and Dholpur were agitated over the interruption. A group set fire to a garbage dump. The situation was controlled when Mathura administration officials arranged buses.
Similarly, long queues of trucks and trolleys ferrying migrants, apart from some on bicycles, were seen in other bordering districts like Gautambuddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Baghpat, Shamli, Lalitpur and Mahoba. Chaos was also reported from some non-bordering districts like Lucknow, Kanpur, Unnao, and Fatehpur.
Director general of police (DGP) H C Awasthy said there was an unprecedented turn out of migrants. He, however, said that the situation was defused in a few hours after they were convinced of buses and trains for their safe onward journey. He said the aim of sealing the borders was to ensure safety of migrants and not to interrupt their movement.
Additional chief secretary, home, Awanish Awasthi said trains from Jhansi, Mahoba, Agra, Mathura, Noida, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Saharanpur and Prayagraj were likely to start from Sunday. He said the UP state road transport corporation deployed 10,000 buses and districts magistrates had been told to hire private buses. The state had requested the Railways to operate trains between Kanpur- Varanasi via Prayagraj, he added.
The Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) on Sunday criticised the policies of the Bharatiya Janata Party (Bjp)-led central government holding it responsible for the plight of stranded migrants thousands of whom were walking hundreds of kilometres to reach their towns and villages as only limited inter-state transport is allowed in the wake of the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19.
“After 1947, maybe this is the first time when India is witnessing such a huge exodus of the poor migrant labourers. Lakhs of migrant labourers are leaving big cities and travelling thousands of kilometres to reach their home states. The recent situation has devastated their lives, ruined their livelihood and they are left with nothing,” said AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha in a press statement.
He added, “The picture is the same across the country as lakhs of poor migrant labourers are trying to reach their home states. Every day they are facing atrocities, their rights are violated and the BJP is responsible for this situation.”
“Today, the BJP government has sent luxury flights to bring back the rich people who were stuck abroad. The same treatment was given to various rich businessmen. It is good that they have done such things but it is unfortunate that the BJP has done nothing for these poor migrant labourers,” said Chadha. He further said, “These poor migrant labourers are the real makers of India. They leave their home states and travel to the metro cities to earn bread and butter. The kind of atrocities they are facing along with the negligence from the BJP government is unacceptable,” said Chadha, who is also the MLA from Rajendra Nagar.
BJP MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, also the leader of opposition in the Delhi assembly, hit back at the AAP’S allegations,.
“The Centre’s decision to announce lockdown was critical to contain the spread of Covid-19, which even Delhi CM had welcomed. It is the state government’s responsibility to provide food and shelter to the migrant population. People want to move out of Delhi as the state government is unable to ensure proper distribution of ration to them. Their web portal where migrants could register was not working for a few days. The Centre has said it will provide trains. The government should say when their request for trains was denied by the Centre before levelling such allegations.”
LOCKDOWN EXTENSION