Migrants Crisis: Children forced to walk barefoot in searing heat amid lockdown

Braving the blistering summer heat, children of migrants are forced to walk barefoot from Punjab's Ludhiana district to reach their home town. With sweat dripping and anxiety writ large on their faces, their steps were staggering but they had no option but to walk for miles

Ludhiana (Punjab): Amid the coronavirus-induced lockdown, the plight of poor migrant workers has no parallel as they seem to be worst sufferers of ongoing nationwide lockdown.

It has created a severe dislocation in the lives of the migrant population. Photos and videos have gone viral, showing migrant workers walking long distances carrying children or elderly relatives, many with bloodied calluses on their feet from walking barefoot, some collapsing with hunger and thirst.

Braving the blistering summer heat, children of migrants are forced to walk barefoot from Punjab's Ludhiana district to reach their home town.

Read:Deprived of wages, food and shelter: It’s a battle of survival for migrant workers

With sweat dripping and anxiety writ large on their faces, their steps were staggering but they had no option but to walk for miles.

It is to be noted that with their daily wages having dried up, most of them can barely afford rent or even food in the cities, and are thus left with little choice but to attempt a journey home by any means possible.

The lockdown, the world's largest, has forced the country's 1.3 billion people to stay indoors since March 25 and has delivered a heavy blow to the livelihoods of a significant proportion of the country's nearly 40 million migrant labourers.