Police lathi-charge migrant workers in Andhra seeking to return home on foot
The agitated migrant workers pelted stones and empty liquor bottles on the police. Police caned the workers to disperse them and in the process, a couple of cops suffered minor injuries.
Published: 04th May 2020 02:09 PM | Last Updated: 04th May 2020 02:09 PM | A+A A-
Migrant workers on their way to Sub-Collector office seeking help to return go to their respective hometown during the ongoing lockdown in Vijayawada. (Photo| Prasant Madugala, EPS)
VIJAYAWADA: Police resorted to a lathi-charge on a group of migrant workers from Bihar and Jharkhand in Kovvuru in West Godavari district to foil their attempt to proceed to their native places on foot.
The migrant workers wanted the police either to shift them back to their home states or allow them to go by foot as they are finding it difficult to earn a livelihood in view of the lockdown.
Around 300 workers from Bihar and Jharkhand have been working in the sand reaches in Kovvuru mandal but with the lockdown, the work there was stopped and they are left with no other livelihood options. With the Centre relaxing norms on the movement of migrant labour, the workers demanded that they be allowed to return to their homes.
As they reached the Kovvuru toll gate in large numbers, police stopped them and asked them to disperse. This led to arguments and the agitated migrant workers pelted stones and empty liquor bottles on the police. Police caned the workers to disperse them and in the process, a couple of cops suffered minor injuries.
Additional forces were rushed to Kovvuru as a precautionary measure.
