Migrant workers returning home as restrictions put in place in Maharashtra

The panic among migrant workers is because of last year’s horrifying experience during the lockdown when they were forced to flee by every means possible, including trudging on foot.

Mumbai (Maharashtra):Barely six months after they returned, thousands of migrants working in Mumbai are now re-packing their bags to go back home as Maharashtra is in the grip of the second wave of Covid.

Many migrant workers have boarded the trains for their home towns at the Kurla railway station.

The panic among migrant workers is because of last year’s horrifying experience during the lockdown when they were forced to flee by every means possible, including trudging on foot.

With night curfews, stringent daytime restrictions and a weekend lockdown imposed across the state, migrants from different parts of India are in a state of semi-panic, as daily new infections in the state soar in the half-lakh-plus range.

A majority of them, especially the skilled and semi-skilled workers, were brought back from their homes in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Gujarat, Telangana, Odisha with great difficulties by their employers after the phase-wise Unlockdown that started in August 2020.

READ:Scared of lockdown, workers start returning to their places in Bihar

Meanwhile, shopkeepers, traders, businessmen, manufacturer and allied communities in Mumbai, MMR and other major production centres have been protesting against the newly imposed norms since the past three days.

READ:Vaccine doses in Maharashtra to last only 3 days: Tope

Maharashtra reported 59,907 new Covid-19 cases in the highest ever single-day spike. The state also reported the highest single-day death count due to coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic with 322 fatalities. The state tally of Covid positive patients is now 31,73,261

READ:Second wave of COVID-19 hits migrant workers hard; govt launches special trains

Nearly 82 lakh people have been vaccinated so far in Maharashtra since the roll-out of the inoculation drive. An official statement on Tuesday said Maharashtra had received 1.06 crore doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, out of which 88 lakh doses have been used while the wastage stood at three per cent.

AGENCY INPUTS