“Help us. We are stranded in Mumbai. Hotels are also closed. There is no ration facility. We are eating at other people’s place. Please take us back to Jharkhand, we will be very grateful,” said Alimuddin while begging to the government.

Alimuddin, a native of Dumri district of Jharkhand, had come to Mumbai, but the city is now in a lock down. The cloth factory in which Alimuddin worked had been closed several days ago. The hotel where he used to eat has also been closed, and now there is no money left in his pockets. There are many labourers who have money, but there is no food for them in the market.

There are lakhs of migrant labourers like Alimuddin who are trapped in difference because of the lockdown.

In view of the growing threat of Coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called for a one-day public curfew on March 21. Following this, a large number of labourers made way for their states, but then train and bus service were suspended first and later a lockdown was implemented throughout the country on the March 24. Announcing the lockdown across the country for 21 days from the midnight of March 24, the Prime Minister said that although the lockdown would cause a loss of billions of rupees to the country, the move was necessary to save the lives of every citizen.

Due to the lockdown, daily wage earner working in other states are facing a crisis. These labourers do not have work. After the closure of all transport services, including trains and buses, there is no longer any option to return home, while they are dependent on others for food and water due to the closure. A video featuring a labourer from Uttar Pradesh who had been hungry for over 24 hours at Ambala in Haryana went viral. According to the labourer, there are 26 more people with him.

Sikandar Ali, a social worker working for migrant labourers in Jharkhand, said: “Talking only about the Giridih district of Jharkhand, at least 15,000 labourers from this district have been trapped in other states. Many workers have been able to return while the trains ran, but after arriving in Ranchi, they were even forced to travel on foot to reach their homes. Thousands of labourers are still stuck on the way because of the closure.”

The labourers set out on foot from Delhi to travel 200 kms further.

The migrant labourers in the country who earn daily to feed themselves, are facing starvation in the wake of lockdown. That is why, on the night of March 23, a large number of labourers set out to walk to their homes in Agra and Mathura, about 200 kms away from Delhi.

In Delhi’s Anand Vihar bus terminal, a child labourer wept bitterly, disturbed for not being able to board the bus for the last three days. Talking to the electronic media, he wept that he had been frequenting the bus terminal for the past three days to go home in Bihar, but could not find any bus. While he stands waiting for one in the terminal he is also harassed and shooed away by the police.

After posting photos of such labourers on his Facebook wall, a young Delhi-based journalist Adil Khan points out: “The labourers have been on foot on the highway to Agra and Mathura with a satchel in hand and a bale on the head. Seeing a long line of about four kilometres of labourers, I even asked a labourer but they are all facing a critical situation. Because there is a lockdown in Uttar Pradesh until March 25 (now until April 14 across the country), this was the only option they could come up with.”

Apart from New Delhi, labourers from the border cities of Rajasthan are also forced to return to their villages on foot due to lack of transport service. Still, these workers are demanded a health certificate on the border. Another problem is that there isn’t any health centre on the bordering areas to issue a health certificate.

Anhad of Aajivika Bureau, an institution working in Rajasthan for migrant labourers, said: “The situation is very grave. Despite the ban on movement across the borders of Rajasthan and Gujarat, the migrant labourers are coming continuously for the past 48 hours. We have had more than 200 phone calls so far. The labourers who are coming are short of money. Also, they have to struggle a lot to get something to eat.”

In the country, 511 people were confirmed positive with corona virus till March 24 while 10 people have died. There is a lockdown in the country and the government has advised people not to get out of their houses. But the daily wage labourers are forced to leave for their homes because of the livelihood crisis.

Taj Mohammad, a labourer working in a cloth factory in Mumbai, somehow rented a vehicle on March 23 and set out with his family to go to his village in Giridih district of Jharkhand.

During the conversation on the way, he said: “The owners in the factory were willing to pay the workers because of the bandh, but how could we reach the factory. We are going home with the money that was left with us.”

When asked for food arrangements, Taj Mohammad replies: “Everything is closed. We are not getting anything to eat. We have come from Mumbai with biscuits and water for the way, which we are eating and drinking.”

Illiyas, another labourer working in the cloth factory in Mumbai and living in a slum in Dharavi, said: “Thousands of labourers are stranded in Mumbai. Vegetables, if available, are at double the price. If this continues, we would not be able to eat or drink. I appeal to the government to help the labourers in reaching their homes.”

In UP, the workers will get Rs 1,000/-a month and ration

Meanwhile, the Yogi Adityanath government of Uttar Pradesh took the first step to protect daily wage labourers from the impact of corona virus and announced a monthly amount of Rs 1,000 for each of the 15 lakh daily wage labourers and 20.37 lakh construction workers in the state. In addition, 1.65 crore poor and needy families were announced to be given one month’s free ration, including 20 kg of wheat and 15 kg of rice.

The timely steps of the Yogi Government have brought great relief to the workers and poor families of the state at the time of the global epidemic like Corona, but there has been a major livelihood crisis in front of the daily wage workers who are trapped in other states and despite the lockdown, are forced to leave for their homes.

Kejriwal government to give workers in Delhi Rs. 5000

In this difficult time when the entire city and the country are in lockdown, we have decided that we will give ₹ 5,000 to every labourer who works for construction in Delhi so that he can survive. — Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) March 24, 2020 in Delhi,

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made a big announcement for the labourers and said that his government will give Rs 5,000 each to the construction workers soon. Kejriwal said that thousands of labourers living in rented houses in Delhi can be given a concession of 2-3 months in their rents. He said that he had received calls from many landlords who declared that they will not take the rent for the month of March.