During the course of this nationwide lockdown, more than 10 people have died every day, and these deaths are not related to the coronavirus pandemic. In the 51-day lockdown period, as many as 516 migrant labourers have lost their lives. Most of the deaths have occurred due to freak road accidents and the migrant labourers walking back home on the highways have been the victims.
As per thejeshgn.com – a private website that has been registering non-COVID deaths since the first day of the lockdown — there have been 516 such deaths in India, while 3,164 people have died due to the coronavirus pandemic until May 19. The report has been prepared by Kanika Sharma, who is a researcher and an activist; and by Aman, who is an expert of legal affairs of Thejesh.
Between May 14 and May 16, more than 50 labourers have died in various road accidents. On May 16, at least 25 migrant labourers, who were returning home from Rajasthan, died in a freak road accident in Auraiya, Uttar Pradesh. However, more than 35 labourers were badly injured.
On May 14, 10 labourers, who were returning from Punjab and were going to their homes in Bihar met with an accident by a roadways bus in Muzaffarnagar. Of these, six labourers died in the accident. On the same day, a labourer who was coming from Bulandshahar in Uttar Pradesh to Bihar was hit by a four-wheeler near the Doli Gram Sabha in Rae Bareli, he died on the spot. Moreover, a bus which was carrying migrant labourers was hit by a truck near Chandchore in Samastipur of Bihar. Two labourers died in this accident.
Similarly, on May 13, a bus carrying more than 60 labourers met with an accident in Guna of Madhya Pradesh. Eight labourers lost their lives in this accident. Next day, a tractor that was carrying labourers crashed into an electricity pole in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh. All of these labourers died of electric shock.
Tabrak Ansari, 50, a migrant labourer, was stuck in Bhiwadi of Maharashtra. He, along with his 11 friends, was going to his home in Maharajganj district of Uttar Pradesh, which is nearly 1,600 kms from Bhiwadi. Tabrak died in Sandhwa of Madhya Pradesh, which is 390 kms from Bhiwadi. He couldn’t make it to his home.
Gaon Connection spoke to Ramesh Pawar who was with Tabrak in this journey. He said: “Tabrak died on March 25 in Sandhwa near Barwani of Madhya Pradesh. He suffered a heart attack. After the lockdown, we were rendered jobless. We didn’t even have money to buy food for ourselves.” Ramesh informed us that they were working for a power loom industry in Mumbai.
On March 27, 28-year-old Dharamvir, along with seven of his colleagues, decided to peddle to his home in Kharita village in Khagaria district of Bihar. He was stuck in New Delhi. So, he decided to set out on a bicycle to his home, that is nearly 1,300 kms from New Delhi. He started his journey from New Delhi but he fell sick near Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh and died on May 1.
According to media reports, Shahjahanpur police said, “We were informed about Dharmavir’s poor health. When our team reached, we found that he was having difficulty in breathing. He then fainted. We took him to the medical college, where he was declared dead.”
Ramniwas, who was with Dharamvir during the journey, informed us: “We were living in Shakurbasti in New Delhi. We didn’t have any work after the lockdown was declared. We could only stay there for 34 days. Many would provide us with food but for how long could this has continued?”
“We thought that we would die of hunger if we would stay there for long. This was why we thought to go back to our homes. Since the trains were not running, we had to set out on our bicycles. After four days, we reached Shahjahanpur. On May 1, Dharamvir fell sick.”
On May 8, 16 migrant workers from Madhya Pradesh, died on the railway tracks in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, as a goods train ran over them while they fell asleep exhausted due to the long march to their homes 900 kilometres (km) away.
Many such deaths are being reported every day.
Kanika Sharma, who has been recording to non-COVID deaths for thejesh, said: “During the lockdown, more than 500 people have died of starvation, lack of monetary support, police atrocities, and lack of timely medical treatment. With the help of reports published in English, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, Bengali, Odisha and Malayalam online news portal and social media, we have been recording such deaths.”
According to the database, 73 people have lost their lives due to starvation and financial crisis (until May 14); 33 people have died due to fatigue (going home, queuing up ration or for money), 53 people have died due to unavailability of timely medical treatment and 104 people had committed suicide (fear of infection and loneliness). However, 46 people died due to non-availability of alcohol, 12 from police atrocities, 15 due to lockdown-related crimes, and 128 during road accidents. Reasons for 41 deaths could not be found.
“Many people have committed suicides because of fear of infection during the lockdown, loneliness, lack of freedom of commuting and non-availability of alcohol. Of these, many were the migrant labourers who were stuck in cities away from their families,” she added.
“Although this virus infects both rich and poor, mostly poor have died during this lockdown. Most of the deaths recorded during the lockdown were either of the labourers or their family members. Also, many farmers died as they were unable to take up losses. If these people are not helped to overcome this crisis, many such deaths would keep on increasing,” said Kanika.