Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday appealed to the public and his party workers and leaders to provide food and shelter to the jobless workers and daily wage earners, many of whom are walking home to their villages hundreds of kilometres away
“Today, hundreds of our hungry brothers and sisters along with their families have to walk towards their villages. In such grim times whoever can, please help them with food and shelter. I particularly appeal to Congress leaders and workers. Jai Hind,” he tweeted in Hindi.
The 21-day national lockdown to check the spread of coronavirus has sparked migrations from major metros as workers and daily wage earners headed home in different states, mostly on foot in the absence of any transport.
In Delhi on Friday, good Samaritans offered food and water to hundreds of migrants, as they walked to their hometowns in UP, Uttarakhand and even Bihar in the wake of a countrywide lockdown which has paralysed transportation across much of the country.
Many migrants have been stuck at different bus terminals and railway stations in Delhi while trying to return to their hometowns in various states. There was some relie for migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh with the State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) continuing to ferry the migrants to their destinations from different border areas of Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar.
Officials of UPSRTC’s Ghaziabad region said that till March 27 midnight, they had sent about 96 buses and were arranging more to help the migrants workers reach their destinations.
The buses took stranded workers to places like Lucknow, Etawah, Bareilly, Etah, Aligarh and Gorakhpur.
