MUMBAI, India (AP) – Migrant workers are piling up at railway stations in India’s financial capital, Mumbai, to return to their villages of origin, now that the virus control measures have dried up work in the affected region.
“What do I do now?” asked Ramzan Ali, who had earned up to 500 rupees ($ 7) a day as a worker, but had been out of work for two weeks.
He arrived at Kurla railway station on Friday morning and joined a long line to buy a ticket to board a train to Balrampur, his village in northern Uttar Pradesh. Ali, 47, hopes to find work in the village to feed his wife and four children.
Similar scenes began in New Delhi, where some migrant workers were worried that they might get stuck if they declared a blockade.
The government of Maharashtra, which hosts Mumbai, imposed curb-like curbs for 15 days on Wednesday to check the spread of the virus. It closed most industries, businesses and public places and restricted the movement of people, but did not stop bus, train and air services.
An exodus ensued, with panicked day laborers carrying backpacks on overcrowded trains leaving Mumbai. Migration increases the fear of the virus spreading to rural areas.
Maharashtra has been the center of the nation’s recent record growth in new infections. On Friday, India recorded another high of 217,353 new cases in the last 24 hours, pushing its total since the pandemic began after 14.2 million. The Ministry of Health also reported 1,185 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 174,308.
The rush among migrant workers was not as desperate as last year, when Indian Railways suspended all passenger train services during a strict and abrupt nationwide blockade. This forced tens of thousands of poor workers to walk or ride trucks and buses in the rising heat as they tried to return home.
Also, northern states such as Punjab, Haryana and New Delhi and western Rajasthan have not yet seen large-scale movements of migrant workers as it is harvest season. Large farms employed workers to harvest wheat and other crops and prepare for sowing new crops.
Mohammad Aslam, 24, is a tailor in Mumbai, but has been inactive for 18 days. He was queuing to board a train with relatives and others on their way to the eastern city of Muzzaffaarpur.
“My extended family has a farm there and I can earn some money working there,” he said.
Shiva Sanjeev, 27, was desperate to get on a train because his 70-year-old grandfather is seriously ill in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh.
“I get frantic calls from my parents and other family members to get me back to my hometown,” he said.
After home orders were announced in New Delhi on Thursday, several migrant workers there expressed concern that the blockade was not far away. A large crowd of migrant workers waited in front of Anand Vihar station in the capital on Friday, as authorities only allowed those with confirmed tickets to enter the platform.
Sonu Sharma, a carpenter working on construction sites, was waiting to board a train for his hometown, Begu Sarai, in eastern Bihar.
“My work will stop before Saturday. I don’t want to be stuck here without work, if there will be a blockage “, said Sharma.
He was in the Indian capital in March 2020, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared a strict nationwide blockade. For three months, he did not leave his home, living on his savings.
“But this time I have no savings,” he said. “In the event of a blockage, I will be left with nothing.”
Azad, a one-name construction worker, said after last year’s closure that he could not find transportation to return to his hometown of Bihar.
“It took me five days to get home. It was horrible, “Azad said, adding that it was safer to go home before things got worse.
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Associated Press writer Neha Mehrotra contributed to the New Delhi report.