Police lathi-charge migrant workers assembled at Bandra station

Police used lathi-charge to disperse the thousands of migrants workers assembled at Bandra station after they violating the social distancing norm. 
The crowd that gathered at Bandra Terminus. (Photo | ANI)
The crowd that gathered at Bandra Terminus. (Photo | ANI)

MUMBAI: Police used lathi-charge to disperse the thousands of migrant workers assembled at Bandra station after they violating the social distancing norm. 

According to the government authority, they have asked the migrants to register at the local police stations and revenue offices who want to go back to their native places. More than 10 lakh migrants workers mainly from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, etc are registered with the government.

"We had paid the travel fare of more than two lakh migrants who left Maharashtra for their home state. We have given Rs 54 crore to all 36 district collectors to pay the fare of migrants who want to go back to their native. We are informing the migrants and as per the list, they are allowed to travel back. However, at Bandra, some of the people had no ticket still they wanted to board the train by violating social distancing norms. The crowd was outnumbered therefore the mild lathi-charge was used to disperse the crowd," said government official from suburban district collector office. 

Balasaheb Thorat, Maharashtra Congress president and revenue minister said that they are some states who are allowing their state people to come back while Gujarat and West Bengal are not yet clearing the travel plan of these migrants. 

"Migrant workers are provided all facilities but they do not want to stay back here. The first priority is to go back to their own state. We are trying to facilitate but other states should also cooperate so that migrant workers can get relief," Thorat said. 

Satyajeet Tambe, Maharashtra Youth Congress said that they helped more than 100 people from Kerala to go back to their state. "These migrants from Waynad from Kerala were stranded in Maharashtra. We got a call from Rahul Gandhi's office so we immediately made the transport arrangements," Tambe said.

He said that nowadays everyone want to back go back their native places. "Presently, the majority of migrants are going by train while some of them taking tempo and trucks. This is man-made crisis. This happened because there is no proper coordination between the centre and state," Tambe pointed out.

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