Five migrants die in two mishaps
VARANASI/MEERUT: Five migrants died, while 12 others sustained inuries in two separate road mishaps in Mirzapur and Bulandhshahr districts on Friday. In the first incident, three migrants, who were on their way to Bihar from Mumbai, were crushed to death by a dumper truck in Mirzapur. In the second case, two migrants died and 12 were injured after their vehicle hit a pole in Bulandshahr. Meanwhile, 35 migrants going to West Bengal from Jaipur were injured when the bus carrying them overturned in Nawabganj in transGanga area of Prayagraj late Friday night.
PRAYAGRAJ: Pedalling furiously on his cycle rickshaw with family seated behind, Rakhbir, a resident of Bhabua district in Bihar, could easily have been mistaken for setting a record of sorts. But the dejection writ large on his face pointed to the obvious: he was heading home due to lockdown pangs like so many other migrants.
Unable to bear the rude shock of the lockdown being extended for the third time on May 3 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the lanky farmer-turned-rickshaw puller, who had left his village for greener pastures six years back, dreaming of making a decent earning in Delhi, decided to return home anyhow, about 950 km away. He started his journey on his cycle rickshaw from Delhi on May 7, with his wife Munni and two minor kids seated firmly behind. The tiresome journey had started to throw up signs of extreme stress and fatigue, when the family passed through Prayagraj on May 18.
“Babuji bas ghar pahuch jaye. Bahut lamba rasta hai. Kabhi socha nahi tha ki yeh bhi ho sakta hai. Mere do bachche hai. Paisa bhi khatam ho gaya hai. Kahi khana free miltaa hai to kha lete hai nahi to pani aur gud se pet bharte hai (I hope we reach home. It is a long journey. I never thought of such a situation in life. I have two children and no money. If we get free food, we eat or else eat little jaggery with water and move ahead),” he said.
As per the rickshaw puller, at several places police refused to let him move ahead but somehow during night he managed to sneak through the barricading.
He stayed in a slum behind Chandini Chowk and could not bring al his belongings back home except for some clothes and utensils. His elder brother, a carpenter, is still living in the same slum as his wife is unwell.
“Never will I ever leave my village again. Will die of hunger back home but will never face such an ordeal,” he added, perspiring profusely while pedalling his rickshaw hard near the Paniki-Tanki on Kanpur road.