Desperate to get home, many wade through Yamuna
Desperate to return home, many migrant workers waded through shallow, waisthigh stretches of the Yamuna from Haryana to Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh over the past few days to avoid detection and detention at the border checkpoints amid the lockdown.
Making the most of the situation, people living on the riverbanks charged each migrant ₹50 to 100 to help them navigate. Not that anyone had a problem. “Each member of our group paid them. Otherwise, we could have drowned,” said Ranjeet Sahni, a resident of Parjilwa village in Bihar’s Motihari district. He worked in a factory in Jagadhri town of Haryana. His nine months pregnant wife Babita Devi too swam with him. “We risked our life because we had no option.”
The Yamuna demarcates the border between Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. There is no estimate of the number of people who have waded through the river on their way back to homes in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Locals who live on the riverbanks are aware of the shallow stretches of the river and are using this knowledge to make money, Sahni said.
After the lockdown was announced on March 24 , Sahni stayed back in Haryana’s Jagadhri because of his wife’s condition.
But soon his savings dried up. His family lent him ₹9,000 in two instalments in the past one month. When that money also started to run out, the couple started walking to their native village on Saturday with 14 others from their village.
They decided to take the river route after coming to know from other migrants that police were not allowing outsiders to enter Saharanpur.
Like Sahni, thousands of labourers are arriving in Uttar Pradesh every day from Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir en route to their villages in Bihar and other states after their factories closed for the lockdown.
Sanjay Kumar, divisional commissioner of Saharanpur, admitted that many migrants were venturing into the district through the river. It is very difficult to check their movement on such a large river, he said.
An Uttar Pradesh government official, who asked not to be named, said officials from Haryana were handing over returning migrant workers from the state to officials at the border.
“We are making arrangements to send them back to their respective villages and towns,” he said.
A few thousand labourers were intercepted at border check points and kept in a shelter home of Saharanpur before they were sent to Bihar on Shramik special trains started for migrant workers. Sanjay Kumar said over 2,500 labourers were sent to Bihar in the past two days and 4,500 labourers are now being sent by buses.
Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu announced on Sunday the extension of the lockdown till the end of May while most Bharatiya Janata Party (Bjp)-ruled states such as Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh said they would follow the Centre’s guidelines on the extension.
Karnataka, on the other hand, decided to extend the lockdown only till the midnight of May 19, while following the norms of the third lockdown, according to a notification issued by chief secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar.
Some states such as Delhi, Gujarat, West Bengal, Goa and Jharkhand said they would announce norms for the fourth phase of lockdown on Monday.
On Tuesday, most chief ministers had told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that there was a need for an entension, especially in Covid-19 containment areas and clusters. Modi had told them that new guidelines would be issued before May 18 and states would get more powers to enforce it.
Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami spoke certain relaxations in some districts.
UP chief secretary RK Tiwari said the lockdown has been extended till May 31. “We will release our guidelines after studying the Centre’s ,” he said.
Jharkhand’s director, information and public relation department, Rajiv Lochan said, “A meeting of secretaries was called at 9pm to review the guidelines issued by the Centre. I think the final decision will be announced on Monday.”
The West Bengal home department tweeted on Sunday afternoon that the state will notify a “comprehensive plan” on Monday afternoon.
Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani announced that all industries in non-containment zones will start from Monday. “Relaxation will increase in the orange and green zones. Buses will also resume in non-containment zones and auto-rickshaw drivers will be given concessions in some areas,” Rupani said.