14-day quarantine compulsory for all migrants returning to UP, Bihar

A 14-day quarantine has been declared mandatory for all migrant workers who are travelling back to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in special vehicles arranged or by foot amid the 21-day lockdown.

Large groups of migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand who were stranded in New Delhi, crowded at bus terminals in and around the national capital to try and return home.

These workers, who were left with no means to survive due to unavailability of daily wage labour during the lockdown, were unable to return to their homes since no passenger trains or government or private buses are running. Others had to resort to travelling in container lorries, trucks, or by foot for hundreds of kilometres to go back home.

This has resulted in unintentionally defeating the point behind enforcing a lockdown, which was to maintain social distancing to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Noting the prevailing situation, the Uttar Pradesh and Delhi governments responded to the exodus on Saturday (March 28) by arranging buses to ferry the people home. The UP government said it had organised 1,000 buses and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said 200 DTC buses would also be pressed into service.

Kejriwal also appealed to migrant workers not to leave for their native places during the 21-day nationwide lockdown in the interest of the country.

Taking to Twitter, he asked the migrant workers to stay wherever they were as the risk of the coronavirus spreading increases due to large gatherings. “I assure you that the Delhi government has made sufficient arrangements for your food and accommodation. For now, do not go to your villages in the country’s interest,” the chief minister wrote on Twitter.

दिल्ली से अपने गाँव जा रहे लोगों से मेरी अपील। pic.twitter.com/VTOGZVZFkh

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) March 29, 2020

Political leaders, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have shared distressing videos on social media showing lakhs of migrants waiting at bus terminals in queues or travelling in crowded buses.

Out of work & facing an uncertain future, millions of our brothers & sisters across India are struggling to find their way back home. It’s shameful that we’ve allowed any Indian citizen to be treated this way & that the Govt had no contingency plans in place for this exodus. pic.twitter.com/sjHBFqyVZk

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 28, 2020

मानवता करे पुकार
जागो हे सरकार#जागो_हे_सरकार#HelpThem #IndiaDeservesBetter pic.twitter.com/13Pv1y4JNR

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) March 28, 2020

Some of the videos also show policemen, armed with batons, attempting to control the people and make them maintain distance with each other to prevent further spread of the virus.

#WATCH Huge number of migrant workers at Delhi's Anand Vihar bus terminal, to board buses to their respective home towns and villages; Police is present at the spot pic.twitter.com/jHYbgIXOk3

— ANI (@ANI) March 28, 2020

Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik have requested the states concerned to ensure the safety of stranded migrant workers from their states.

Home Minister Amit Shah too said the Centre was committed to supporting migrant workers and that state governments had been pushed to utilise their respective disaster response funds for relief measures and set up relief camps along highways to ensure that migrants did not cross borders.

He also cautioned governments to build these camps keeping social distancing in mind.
Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy, Manish Sisodia, made the same plea, pointing out that the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi had promised lunch and dinner for four lakh people.

India has recorded more than 970 positive cases of COVID-19, and 19 people have died so far, according to the data given by the Union health ministry.