Jalaun (Uttar Pradesh): Hundreds of vehicles carrying thousands of migrant workers travelling from different parts of the country to their homes in Uttar Pradesh were stopped at the Jalaun border of the state from entering the district in the wee hours of Saturday.
After being halted at the Jhansi district border for 12 hours, with no food and water available, the migrants had finally made it to Jalaun but were not allowed to move any further with the district officials demanding passes to let them through.
Manish Tiwari, a migrant worker travelling from Maharashtra to Gonda district of UP, said that the Jhansi district authorities did not inform them that would need another pass at the borders further.
“I am coming from Maharashtra and was going to Gonda. They keep stopping our vehicle. We were made to wait at Jhansi for 12 hours. Then we came here and now they are not allowing us to go forward and asking us to get a pass from Jhansi. Why didn’t the authorities at Jhansi inform us that we will need a pass ahead,” Tiwari told ETV Bharat.
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Narrating a similar ordeal, Pankaj Dubey, who was working at Gujarat’s Surat and was migrating back to his home in Ayodhya, said, “First we were stopped at the Madhya Pradesh border and then at Jhansi. We were made to wait from 3 am to 3 pm. There were no arrangements made for food and water. Now that we came here we are being told that we cannot go any further from here and are asking us to go back to Jhansi.”
The Jalaun district authority’s decision to stop the vehicles at the border led to a miles-long traffic jam at the Jalaun-Kanpur highway, leaving the migrants stranded once again with nowhere to go.
As per information available with ETV Bharat, the directive of not allowing the migrants to pass through Jalaun was issued by the District Magistrate and the Border SSP. The order also deputed the Commanding Officer and Sub-Divisional Magistrate at the site.
Similar scenes were witnessed along the Madhya Pradesh-Uttar Pradesh border, with MP Police not allowing people to cross into the state, leading to a major traffic jam at the border post of the two states in Johariya village on Shivpuri-Jhansi highway.
This despite directives being issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs allowing the movement of migrants to their respective homes.
