Better to die in my ancestral village, says man walking 1,300km with kin
It is better to die in my native village in Kanpur district, then face death in Vasai, are the words of wheelchair-bound, Dilshad Khan, 54, who along with his wife, Ayesha Begum and teenage daughter, Zahreen, has decided walk 1,300 km to their hometown in Uttar Pradesh. Khan and his family can be seen (in pic) trudging along the highway in the scorching heat, near Chilar Phata, in Boisar.
Khan served water to the workers at construction sites, for a living, whereas his wife and daughter lifted bricks and sand. “We earn ₹1,200 per day. But the lockdown has rendered us jobless. We don’t have any money now even to survive,” he said. Khan moved to Mumbai in 2000. He worked in a factory as a labourer, but he lost his right leg in an accident. He was then thrown out of the job.
On May 3, Khan and his family had applied for e-passes with the help of a friend, but due to technical reasons, his application was rejected. As he did not have the transit passes, the family was unable to board a train to UP from
Vasai Road station.
“We even contacted a trucker who agreed to drop us at the Kanpur border, but he charged ₹5,000 per person. So, we decided to walk instead,” Khan said.
Khan’s wife and daughter take turns in pushing the wheelchair. “It is tough for them, but we have no other alternative,” said Khan.
The family plans to cover the 1,300 km distance in a span of 27 days. They have decided on covering only 50-60 km a day and rest under the shades of trees or in musafir khana (transit homes) if we are allowed entry.
“I just pray that the wheelchair does not fail me. It has been loyal to me since the past 15 years. It would be difficult to get a spare part on the way, as all shops are shut. I want to die in my village. At least there I will get a decent burial in the presence of my relatives,” said Khan.
Around 1,972 Indians have been brought to Maharashtra, under Vande Bharat Mission, started to bring back stranded Indian nationals from May 7. All have been kept under institutional quarantine facility developed by the state government for 14 days, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Tuesday.
Of them, 822 are from Mumbai, 1,025 are from other parts of the state and the rest 125 are from other states of the country. With the help of 13 flights, these Indians have been brought back from ten different countries of the world. Thackeray said that they are expecting more people under the mission as 27 more flights are expected to be operated. As per tentative plan provided by Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), 2,609 passengers were expected to arrive at Mumbai airport in the first phase of the mission, said a senior official, requesting anonymity. Over 1.88 lakh Indians have registered with MEA to return to the country so far, of them 13,403 are from Maharashtra, he said.
Thackeray said all those who are from Mumbai have been kept in institutional quarantine facilities developed at various hotels in the city, while who are from other parts of the state have been sent to the respective districts. “We have also kept all those in Mumbai who are not from Maharashtra but their states have refused to take them back as of now,” said the chief minister.