93 migrant workers held in Guj for defying lockdown, attacking cops

Hundreds of migrant workers in Gujarat's Surat district came out on the roads on Sunday, violating the lockdown order by the government, demanding travel facilities to return to their home towns in the northern States.

Surat: At least 93 migrant labourers have been arrested in Gujarat's Surat city for allegedly defying the nationwide lockdown and attacking police, an official said on Monday.

The situation became tense in Ganesh Nagar and Tirupati Nagar localities late Sunday night after nearly 500 migrant workers residing there came on roads, demanding transportation facility to reach their native places, Deputy Commissioner of Police Vidhi Chaudhari said.

Several people hailing from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar live in Surat's Pandesara area, where both the localities are situated and work in power looms and textile processing units here, another police official said.

"When the police were trying to convince them to remain indoors, they started pelting stones at the security personnel. Several police vehicles were damaged in the stone-pelting," Chaudhari said.

The police fired 30 teargas shells to disperse the crowd, said Chaudhari, whose official car was also damaged in the incident.

While some miscreants were arrested on Sunday night, some others were held on Monday, she said.

"We have lodged an FIR against a mob of 500 people and arrested 93 of them. They were charged under sections for rioting, attacking police, damaging public property and also under provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act for defying restrictions," the official said.

(PTI Report)