Clamoring to get home, India migrant workers stone police
India’s military salutes virus workers with rose petals, flypasts
AHMEDABAD: More than 2,000 rural migrant workers blocked from returning home pelted Indian police with stones, officials in Gujarat said, as millions more stranded in the state readied to return to villages. Poor migrant workers across the country lost their jobs during the world’s biggest pandemic lockdown, which began in late March to guard against the spread of new coronavirus.
Saturday’s clash in western India’s Gujarat is the latest in a spate of such protests across India. It happened when officials stopped the workers, who had rented vehicles, from crossing into neighboring Madhaya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh states, because they did not have sufficient paperwork for entry, officials said.
Gujarat is one of India’s main industrial hubs, and authorities there were bracing for a logistical “nightmare” after about two million migrant laborers and their families signed up for permission to return home, an official in the state said. They are clamoring to get back to their villages despite the fact that some might have the opportunity to work again. The government is pushing for factories to reopen and has eased some restrictions in the lockdown which will extend for two more weeks from Monday.
“Making arrangements for even half of the registered people would be a nightmare for the district administrations,” the official, who asked to remain anonymous said. In Indore, in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, 14 migrant workers and four others were found by police on Saturday crammed into a cement mixer, local media reported. The migrants had been trying to return home from western Maharashtra state to northern Uttar Pradesh state-a 1,200-kilometre journey. In a vast exodus, many migrant already managed to return to their villages, mostly on foot, but local media reported that some died on their long journeys. Others have been stranded at crowded shelters in cities. The government late last week allowed special cross-border trains and buses to operate to bring those who wanted to return to their villages in other states. Inter-state public transport is still barred.
Military salutes workers Meanwhile, helicopters showered masked health workers with rose petals and jets roared across the skies Sunday as India’s military paid tribute to frontline workers battling the coronavirus pandemic. In one of the first of several gestures on Sunday, petals fell on to the upturned faces of medical personnel clad in protective gear while an army band played patriotic tunes including “Jai Ho” (May victory prevail) from the popular “Slumdog Millionaire” film.
In several states and territories across the vast nation of 1.3 billion people, fighter jets and transport aircraft in formations took part in low-flying aerial salutes to thank the country’s so-called “corona warriors”. “The entire nation stands united in these challenging times,” Defense Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted Sunday. He praised the “commendable work” of the “frontline warriors”, including police who have been enforcing the nationwide virus lockdown in place since late March. The navy lit up its ships off the sub-continent’s shores when night fell, as part of the tributes.
The performances were the third public show of gratitude to health and other frontline workers, after Indians took part in nationwide clapping and lamp lighting efforts led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on previous Sundays.
The lockdown was extended for another two weeks by the government on Friday, although some restrictions were lifted in regions that have lower numbers of virus cases. India has recorded almost 40,000 coronavirus cases, including 1,301 deaths. — Agencies