Cops lathicharge migrants as thousands gather at Bandra station to leave Mumbai, defy lockdown orders
Mumbai's Bandra West railway station was flooded with migrant labourers who were hoping to get back home as they expected the lockdown to end on Tuesday.
Mumbai's Bandra West station witnessed a large crowd on Tuesday
Migrant workers hoping to get back home had gathered at the station
They had hoped that the lockdown will end on Tuesday, but it has been extended till May 3
Mumbai Bandra West railway station was flooded with migrant labourers who were hoping to get back home as they expected the lockdown to end on Tuesday.
The visuals from the Bandra station show a massive crowd gathered. The police had to resort to lathi-charge to disperse the crowd.
The people gathered at the station are mostly daily wage labourers who are not able to earn since the government imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 25. Earlier, the lockdown was supposed to end on April 14, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday declared that the lockdown has been extended till May 3.
According to a police official, daily wage earners, numbering around 1,000, assembled at suburban Bandra (West) bus depot near the railway station and squatted on road at around 3 pm.
The daily wage earners, who reside on rent in slums in the nearby Patel Nagri locality, were demanding arrangement of transport facilities so that they can go back to their native towns and villages.
They originally hail from states like West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.
India Today TV spoke to Maharashtra Cabinet minister Aslam Sheikh who assured that there was no dearth of food for the migrants in the city.
"There is no question of food, food and rations are being provided to them. Earlier, Home Minister Amit Shah had assured that the arrangement will be made to send them back to their home after the lockdown ends, but now the lockdown has been extended so the people are anxious," Aslam Sheikh said.
Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said that the government has been able to persuade migrant workers to not go back to their hometowns as they may carry the infection with them.
"These people were hoping to get back home. We have been able to persuade them that they will have to wait as no state borders are open yet. The crowd has been dispersed," he said.
"Mumbai has the largest number of migrant labourers, they had assumed that since today is 14th they will get a chance to get back home. We are glad that state borders have not been opened as if these people had gone back to their home they would have taken the disease with them to their villages," the state home minister said.
"Migrant workers who gathered near Bandra station in Mumbai must have thought PM Modi had ordered the opening of state borders," Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said.
Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray's son and Shiv Sena MLA Aaditya Thackeray claimed that the crowd at the Bandra station was the result of the Union government's improper planning.
"The current situation at Bandra Station, now dispersed or even the rioting in Surat is a result of the Union Govt not being able to take a call on arranging a way back home for migrant labour. They don’t want food or shelter, they want to go back home," Aaditya Thackeray said on Twitter.
Party spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi also trained her guns at the Centre. "The Union government must realise that migrant workers have largely cooperated in the past three weeks but there is impatience, urge central government besides looking at this crisis from health and economy perspective please consider the humanitarian and social side too. Happened in Surat and now in Mumbai," she said on social media.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra CMO announced that CM Uddhav Thackeray will address a press conference at 8 PM.
The number of cases in Maharashtra has risen to 2337, with at least 160 deaths.
One of the labourers, who did not reveal his name, said, "NGOs and local residents are providing food to migrant workers, but they want to go back to their native states during the lockdown which has badly affected their source of livelihood."
"Now, we don't want food, we want to go back to our native place, we are not happy with the announcement (extending the lockdown)," he said, looking dejected.
Asadullah Sheikh, who hails from Malda in West Bengal, said, "We have already spent our savings during the first phase of the lockdown. We have nothing to eat now, we just want to go back to our native place, the government should have made arrangements for us.
Another labourer, Abdul Kayyun, said "I am in Mumbai for last many years but have never seen such a situation. The government should start trains to shift us from here to our native place."
Heavy police deployment was made at the protest site to tackle any untoward incident. Personnel from other police stations were called at the spot to maintain order, the official added.
