Seven try taking cab to Bihar, stopped by cops
nNEW DELHI: As thousands of migrant workers flocked to east Delhi’s Anand Vihar late last month in the hope of catching a bus back to their home towns, seven remained oblivious to the development and stayed put inside their house in west Delhi’s Raghubir Nagar.
These seven daily wage labourers had then missed out on the slim opportunity.
Nearly three weeks later, on Thursday evening, they thought they had a fresh opportunity. After days of trying , the men had managed to convince a Toyota Innova driver to drive them to their village in Vaishali district of Bihar.
By evening, they were ready with two bags stuffed with one set of clothes each, two kilos of beaten rice, some jaggery and two water bottles. Around 11pm, the men stuffed themselves into the six-seater Innova and set out on an arduous and uncertain journey towards home.
They had barely driven for an hour through the inner lanes of the city when their journey came to an abrupt end. A police picket in south Delhi’s Kotla Mubarakpur area had detected the car and stopped the vehicle.
“Our hearts sank at that moment,” said one of men, 18-year-old Barun Kumar.
“The seven men were moved to a shelter home in Kotla Mubarakpur, where they were provided bedding and meals. The police also ensured that the advance that they had paid to the driver was refunded, “said Atul Kumar Thakur, deputy commissioner of police (south).
The men were let off without any legal action, but the driver, Shakeel Ahmad, has been booked under Sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Epidemic Act.
“We don’t know how long the lockdown will last. It may continue for three months or may go on for six months,” said 40-yearold Anil Rai.
The men had decided to return to their village after the lockdown ended on April 14. Their house owner had waived off their rent and helped them with ration. But on Tuesday when Prime Minister
Narendra Modi announced that the lockdown was going to be extended till May 3, the men turned desperate. They visited Labour Chowk near their home, but couldn’t find any work.
“Back in our village, the wheat crop was ready and waited to be harvested . It would go waste if we didn’t return home. Every year, we spend two months in the village for harvesting the crop, but this time we couldn’t make it. Our families kept urging us to return home,” said Rai.
When the lockdown was extended beyond April 14, they turned desperate and began looking out for any vehicle that would ferry them home.
On Thursday, April 16, they found one driver, Shakeel Ahmad, who was willing to drive them home.
The driver said he will charge them ₹37,000 for a ride till Patna. From there, the men agreed to walk to their village in Vaishali.
“We borrowed money on interest from someone in our village. He transferred the money to a shopkeeper in Raghubir Nagar and we paid a commission to him to get the cash,” said 28-year-old Teni Rai.
An advance of ₹7,500 was paid to the driver, with a promise of paying the remaining sum once they reached Patna. “In all, we had ₹500 cash in our pocket,” said Rai.
The seven men didn’t give much thought on how they would get through the strict checking along the 1,050-kilometre route. “The driver told us that it was his responsibility (to get us through police checking). We were desperate and trusted him,” said Teni.
According to a senior police officer, the driver had decided to cross Delhi through internal lanes of the city at night. “He planned to take offbeat routes while travelling through Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The 1,050kilometre route would get extended by another 200 kilometres in the process,” said the police officer.
They had planned to travel mainly at night to avoid detection and had estimated it would take them about three days to get home.
“Right now, we are just thankful we didn’t lose the advance money we paid to the driver,” said one of them, Karu Rai.
THE MEN WERE LET OFF WITHOUT ANY LEGAL ACTION, BUT THE DRIVER HAS BEEN BOOKED UNDER SECTIONS OF
THE INDIAN PENAL CODE AND THE EPIDEMIC ACT