"Can't Return To Rented Homes": Migrants In Mumbai After Trains Cancelled
Mumbai: Hundreds of migrants in Mumbai have been sleeping on footpaths and roads near a police station in the Wadala area for the last three days, triggers concerns about social distancing amid India’s fight against coronavirus. They claim that they were told by police that special trains would be arranged for them.
Many of these migrants – left jobless due to coronavirus lockdown –says that they had packed all their belongings, left their rented homes and hoping to go back to their villages. But were later told that the trains have been canceled.
The crowd has been swelling over the last three days. Among those who have been forced to sleep on the footpaths is a nine-month-old pregnant woman. “My landlord is asking me for the rent. We have no option but to stay on the footpath unless an alternative is arranged. We can’t return to the rented house,” she said.
“I have to go to Uttar Pradesh. Every day, we are told that the train has been canceled. Then, we are told to ask the concerned officials. We have no food. Landlord won’t allow us… What do we do?” Virendra Kumar from Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh said.
"They leave a message to call us but don't leave a message when trains are canceled. This morning, I got a call that trains would run. When we came here, we were told that trains are canceled," another laborer said.
Lakhs of migrants, students, tourists were stranded in March when India announced one of the world’s strictest lockdowns over the pandemic. Despite special trains and buses run by the centre and states, many of the migrants have died since then while trying to return to their homes on foot. More than 50 deaths related to the movement of migrants have been recorded in the last two weeks.
Maharashtra has the highest number of coronavirus patients in India. Over 44,000 COVID-19 cases have been recorded so far, more than 1,500 patients have died. Of these, nearly 27,000 cases have been reported from Mumbai.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has given the officials time till the end of this month to break the chain of transmission.
