Scorching heat no obstacle to go to Bihar during this lockdown

By Suchitra Kalyan Mohanty
New Delhi [India], May 23 : A long queue of more than two km long formed as hungry and thirsty migrants stood at Lajpat Nagar police station with the scorching sun overhead, wanting to return to their respective villages in Bihar as coronavius lockdown continues.
They needed to register their details with the police, which is facilitating their return, and had to be in the serpentine queue, after not getting food, water, work and other basic necessities for surviving in Delhi.
"We have no other option, but to go only to our native Village, as we don't have food, water, work and other basic necessities for human survival. So we all are going. What is the point of staying here? We all will die without food, water and other," Ravi Kumar told ANI.
"I want to live, not die. I am only around 35. I have my family there in Bihar in Begusarai," he further added with his folder hands.
One of the migrant labourers Dharmender works in a factory, told ANI that he wanted to go to his village, Madhubani.
"I am a factory worker here in Delhi. There is a lot of problem for food and water after the lockdown was imposed here. As we can't pay the rent, so I decided to go to my village," Dharmender told ANI.
He questioned that as there is no work after the lockdown, will we survive? Where we will bring money now?
Today, the message has come that my train will leave today. So I have come here to go through the entire process before boarding the train to Bihar.
He, however, expressed his happiness the way the Delhi police is managing to send us to our native villages and places.
"The Delhi police are managing the entire process very well and I really appreciate their effort in helping us during this lockdown," he told ANI and added that they behave with us in a responsible manner.
Almost all the migrant labourers in the Lajpat Nagar area have more or less the same story to tell during this crisis.
Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Vinod Kumar Yadav, who is supervising the process and helping all these migrant labourers to go to their respective villages, told ANI that at this stage, we are helping these migrant labourers in any way possible.
"We constitute four medical teams for these migrant labourers transportation to their respective villages. They are around 1,500 approximately in numbers. We are making all kinds of arrangements, like thermal screening of these persons. We are asking them to use masks and maintain social distancing," Yadav told ANI.
We will make them board the DTC buses (which are here) and will take them to respective railway stations and ensure that they will go to their respective villages.
"There are around 1,500 railway tickets so far, so we expect the same number of persons, will board the train today," Yadav told ANI.
We have also arranged food, water and other basic necessities for these needy people, he said.
Bal Ram, Inspector, Lajpat Nagar police station, also echoed similar opinion and said that we have all kinds of effective arrangements from the orders of our DCP and we are ensuring their safe passage to their respective villages.
"We brief them and asked them to use masks and maintain social distancing against Coronavirus. Around 1,400 and 1,500 migrant labourers will be going to their respective villages," Bal Ram said.
The migrant labourers will go mainly to Betia, Muzzafarpur, Madhepura, Purnia, Motihari, Chhapra, Hajipur, Samastipur, Begusarai, Katihar and many other places in Bihar, Bal Ram said.
60 buses, we have arranged so far and all these migrant workers will board these buses and will be taken to their respective railway stations, Bal Ram said.