2020 rerun? Migrant exodus begins, again
NEW DELHI: Soon after chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a six-day curfew in Delhi beginning 10pm on Monday, migrants began pouring into interstate bus terminals and private bus depots around Anand Vihar and Ghazipur in Delhi and Kaushambi in Ghaziabad, in scenes reminiscent of the mass exodus of people from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, who gathered in thousands at Anand Vihar after the Union government announced a lockdown in March 2020.
However, there was no extra crowding at railway stations, and other interstate bus terminals such as Kashmere Gate, from where buses towards Punjab, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh ply. Anand Vihar is the interstate bus terminal for most destinations in UP.
While announcing the restrictions on Monday to arrest an unprecedented rise in Covid-19 cases and fatalities that has overwhelmed health facilities in the Capital, Kejriwal said the decision to impose a lockdown was not an easy one for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government as it hurts the poor and daily wage workers the most.
“I appeal to people not to leave Delhi during the lockdown. We will take care of you. I am there to ensure it,” he said.
Within hours of the announcement, however, crowds swelled at Anand Vihar, and across the road at Kaushambi. Crowds were also seen on the main road towards Ghazipur, from where several private buses head to UP and Bihar. There were snarls on both carriageways between Anand Vihar and the Ghazipur roundabout.
“Our factories will shut due to this new lockdown. As Covid-19 cases are increasing rapidly in Delhi, and there is uncertainty about the number of days this curfew will continue for, it’s better for us to return to our family, rather than suffer here. I had returned to Delhi in September after last year’s lockdown,” said Mohammad Rashid from Lucknow, who works in a jeans-stitching factory in Seelampur.
The foot-overbridge connecting Kaushambi and Anand Vihar bus terminal, railway and Metro stations, remained packed beyond capacity. Another foot-overbridge, near East Delhi Mall, was also packed.
“There are nearly 8,000 migrants around Anand Vihar bus terminal who are waiting for buses to their home towns. The number is increasing. Our maximum deployment is in these areas to maintain law and order and facilitate migrants in every way possible. We are in touch with the transport department officials to arrange extra buses for these migrants,” said additional deputy commissioner of police (east) Sanjay Sehrawat.
While a majority of the passengers reached the terminals in auto-rickshaws, men carrying luggage on their heads and shoulders, and women holding their babies in one arm and bags in the other, were seen walking on the pavements towards the bus terminals.
The crowd was bigger at Kaushambi than at Anand Vihar. “We are witnessing an increase in passengers at our bus terminals for the last two-three days. The numbers started increasing from Monday morning. Some of them were migrants who were returning because of their experience last year,” said Punit Sethi, state manager of ISBT, Anand Vihar.
Ajit Mishra, an agent working for multiple bus services between Delhi and Bihar, said the announcement was followed by a surge in demand for tickets.
“There is a 20%-30% increase in demands already. Unlike earlier, when we would receive requests for one or two tickets at once, I am now getting requests for booking 10-15 seats at one go,” said Mishra.
Sachidanand Sinha, a professor with the Centre for the Study of Regional Development at Jawaharlal Nehru’s School of Social Sciences, said the migrants were leaving again because of their “bitter experience” in 2020.
“First, they were scared of the rising Covid-19 cases, and now because of the lockdown... It’s a grim situation because the migrants who are returning are potential carriers of Covid-19. They will infect others, and in this way, Delhi’s test positivity ratio of one positive case out of three samples may be witnessed across India,” said Sinha.
There is uncertainty about the number of days this curfew will continue for, it’s better to return to our family, rather than suffer here.
MOHAMMAD RASHID ,
migrant worker from Lucknow