Thousands At Delhi Bus Station Amid COVID-19 Risk, Wait For Ride Home

[timmy]

Thousands At Delhi Bus Station Amid COVID-19 Risk, Wait For Ride Home

With all public transport stopped, many left without food, shelter and income had been forced to undertake journeys for hundreds of kilometres on foot

All IndiaEdited by Chandrashekar Srinivasan (with inputs from ANI)Updated: March 28, 2020 09:45 pm IST

 

Thousands of migrant workers are waiting at Delhi's Anand Vihar Bus Terminal to be ferried home

 

 

New Delhi: 

Amid the chaos, fear and uncertainty spreading across the country because of the COVID-19 outbreak, a distressing narrative has emerged from Delhi, where thousands of migrant workers, left without jobs, shelter or money after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 21-day nationwide lockdown shut down almost all commercial establishments, are still trying desperately to return to hometowns and villages across the border in Uttar Pradesh.

The centre's "total lockdown", meant to halt the spread of a highly infectious novel coronavirus that transmits rapidly in crowded spaces, had suspended all interstate bus and railway services, leaving migrants and their young families no option but to walk hundreds of kilometres foot in searing heat.

As harrowing stories of men, women and infants undertaking the punishing trek emerged over the past few days, the Uttar Pradesh and Delhi governments responded today by arranging buses to ferry the people home; this morning the UP government said it had organised 1,000 buses and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said 200 DTC buses would also be pressed into service.

This evening, as the fourth day of the lockdown comes to a close, the sheer scale of the exodus was highlighted in videos shared by news agency ANI and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi,

ANI

 

✔@ANI

 

 

#WATCH Huge number of migrant workers at Delhi's Anand Vihar bus terminal, to board buses to their respective home towns and villages; Police is present at the spot

 

 

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7:02 PM - Mar 28, 2020

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In the ANI video a massive crowd of men and women, some with face masks and others with handkerchiefs around their noses to protect them from the COVID-19 threat, can been huddled together in queues waiting to board buses at Delhi's Anand Vihar Interstate Bus Terminal.

Delhi Police officers, also wearing masks, can be seen carrying lathis and loudspeakers as they attempt to organise the mass of people. One officer, careful to keep a safe distance between himself and the crowd, waves at a man with a lathi as he tries to control the queue.

"I am a daily wage labourer. There is no work available right now. What else are we supposed to do? No arrangements made by the government have reached us. We are going to our village. If we stay here, we will starve to death," a migrant worker was quoted by ANI.

A massive crowd was also witnessed at Ghazipur, near the border with UP, where people were waiting to board buses arranged by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's government.

Thousands of migrants wait at Delhi's Anand Vihar Bus Terminal

Mr Gandhi's video, shot earlier today, presented an even more upsetting picture.

In it tens of thousands of migrants can be seen crowding around a handful of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses. As the video pans to show either side of a pedestrian bridge linking to a nearby metro station, the crowd stretches as far as the eye can see.

A solitary Delhi Police patrol car can be seen on one side of the bridge with around a dozen police officers gathered around. A cacophony of car horns and sirens can be heard in the background as a never-ending line of masked men carrying bags and suitcases shuffle past.

"Out of work and facing an uncertain future, millions of our brothers and sisters are struggling to find their way back home. It is shameful we have allowed any Indian citizen to be treated this way and the government has no contingency plans for this exodus," Mr Gandhi said in his post.

Rahul Gandhi

 

✔@RahulGandhi

 

 

Out of work & facing an uncertain future, millions of our brothers & sisters across India are struggling to find their way back home. It’s shameful that we’ve allowed any Indian citizen to be treated this way & that the Govt had no contingency plans in place for this exodus.

 

 

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7:13 PM - Mar 28, 2020

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Mr Gandhi had tweeted earlier in the day as well, tweeting: "The government is responsible for this terrible condition. Bringing citizens to such a state is a very big crime"

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/thousands-of-migrants-still-at-delhi-bus-terminal-amid-covid-19-risk-waiting-for-ride-home-2202307?pfrom=home-topscroll

 

[timmy]

entra babu aa janalu asalu govt ki planning undatledhu janalu risk theesukuntunnaru sanka naakinchey tattu unnaru   

[Hydrockers]

Ufff

[VictoryTDP]

Bodi and Bejri gaa idhe na lockdown ante

[reality]

Pappu Tweet outside nunchi bagane undhi kani...

Veedi mother country Italy nunchi nerchukomantunnada....??

[Aryaa]

Lol janta curfew antey ide mana India lo lol. 

[bhaigan]

10 minutes ago, timmy said:

entra babu aa janalu asalu govt ki planning undatledhu janalu risk theesukuntunnaru sanka naakinchey tattu unnaru   

mana janalu ekkada vintaru le bhayya