In a shocking incident, 18 people desperate to return to their homes in Lucknow from Maharashtra were found travelling inside a concrete mixer tank by police in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. A video of the said incident has now gone viral on social media. The men holed up insider the tank could be seen coming out of a narrow orifice, one at a time, in the presence of police officials.
The truck was stopped by the cops at the border between Indore and Ujjain to check for the illegal movement of people. Cautioned by the driver’s nervousness, the police officers stationed at the border checked the massive concrete mixer drum. To their surprise, they found 18 men sitting inside when they opened the lid of the tank.
The migrant workers were then sent to a local quarantine facility for Coronavirus testing. The Madhya Pradesh Government is meanwhile arranging a special bus to take them to Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. DSP Umakant Chaudhary informed, “The truck has been sent to a police station and an FIR has been registered.”
Migrant Crisis
Following the imposition of the nationwide lockdown in the wake of the deadly Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic, economic activities have come to a standstill. With daily wage workers left with no food, shelter, and job, travelling home seemed to be the last option for them. Given that public transport was unavailable owing to social distancing guidelines, several people began their journey on bicycles and even barefoot.
The nationwide lockdown which was announced on March 24 and later extended to May 3 and now further been prolonged to May 17. Several restrictions have been eased out in non-containment zones in the country.
Special trains for stranded people
Easing the movement of migrant workers, tourists, students, pilgrims stranded at different places, the Union Government on May 1 allowed the use of trains for transporting the stranded people to their home states.
Earlier the Home Ministry had allowed the movement of stranded people to their home states using chartered buses. But due to do the huge number of people, especially migrant workers, stranded at various places, several states had requested special trains to transport them as buses will not be enough to handle such a massive migration.
