Today, PM Modi announced that there is an extension in lockdown till May 3rd, as India continues to fight coronavirus pandemic.
Since there is no work till May 3rd, Migrant workers in large numbers gathered at a bus stand in Mumbai on Tuesday afternoon demanding transport arrangements to go back to their native places.
A video showed thousands of people assembling at suburban Bandra (West) bus depot near the railway station, with the police saying the incident took place at around 4 pm.
The police said they are investigating how so many people came to assemble in one place in contravention of the lockdown orders, adding the crowd has since been dispersed.
Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said the migrant workers may have thought Modi had ordered the opening of state borders. They were told by the police that borders are not going to be opened and the situation was now under control, he said.
The migrants were assured that the state government will make arrangement of food and accommodation for them, following which the crowds dispersed, he said.
“Lakhs of workers from other states work in Mumbai. They expected the PM would open the state borders today. They felt they could go back to their home states,” said Deshmukh. “But the PM and CM (Uddhav Thackeray) took a very good decision to extend the lockdown. The state borders will remain sealed. Permission will not be given to go to other states from Maharashtra.”
In a series of tweets Aaditya Thackeray, the son of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, blamed the Central government’s lack of initiative to send the migrants home.
“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,” he tweeted.
A second tweet read:
A mutual road map set by Union Govt will largely help migrant labour to reach home from one state to another safely and efficiently. Time and again this issue has been raised with the centre.
— Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) April 14, 2020
Meanwhile, India has more than 10,000 positive cases with 300+ deaths.
