Coronavirus lockdown: Journey of migrant labourers as they walk back homes

Just two days ago, migrant workers in hundreds gathered in Bandra (West), hoping to travel back to their hometowns from Mumbai, their lives utterly disrupted by the ballooning pandemic and misinformation around it. The day marked the end of the first phase of the nation-wide lockdown. A similar situation unfolded near Bengaluru soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the lockdown. Migrant workers in thousands – engaged in building the city every day - crowded the Nelamangala toll booth. The highway here connects the city to Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and North Karnataka (The migrants move to the city for jobs from these states, and also from Nepal and the northeastern states). With public transportation suspended, they walked long distances, some up to 50 km, and reached the location. From here, they hoped to find a ride back home.They lined the highway under the unrelenting heat. With their belongings in backpacks, rucksacks or cloth bundles, they clutched water bottles. Here a mother placed her toddler on her hip, there a father carried his daughter on his shoulder. Pushkar V brings to us some of their voices as they journeyed on...

“I walked all night to escape the police checkpoints. I'm so tired,” said Keshav Kumar as he rested under a tree with his family. Keshav’s family lived in a makeshift house within an apartment complex in Bengaluru and worked as cooks for two years. Come the pandemic, they were given the monthly salary and then asked to leave. With nowhere else to go, they turned home-ward, towards New Delhi.

"My shop is closed due to the lockdown, but I sold provisions to them as they arrive here with nothing,” said Nagesh, who runs a stall near the Nelamangala toll booth. He has witnessed thousands of migrants waiting for trucks, goods vehicles, tractors or just anyone who can offer them a ride.

At the toll booth, volunteers and good samaritans, too, offered food, fruits and water bottles to the migrant workers.

A group of migrants walked 50 km from their temporary homes in Marathahalli. "Our contractor fled with our salary and has switched off his mobile phone. We waited for three days and decided to leave. I just want to go home now,” said one angrily as they walked on. “I will never return to Bengaluru,” thundered another.

Sridhar and his wife arrived in Bengaluru from Kalaburagi six months back in hopes of finding better education for his two young daughters. Sridhar made Rs 500 a day working at construction sites while his wife worked as a domestic help. Together they earned Rs 17,000 a month until they lost their jobs due to the pandemic. The family was desperate to go home as the younger daughter fell ill. “We had our time living in a big city, but it'll never be at the cost of my children's health." The efforts by the government and NGOs to help the migrant workers came only after many of them started leaving the cities. It's imperative that the government protects them. They are indeed people who build the city we get to call home.