Migrants walk hundreds of miles to return home in Punjab from Kota in Rajasthan amid Covid-19 lockdown

ROHTAK: Faced with a grim choice of being stranded far away from home and no earnings after nationwide lockdown was imposed, five men from Punjab working in Rajasthan’s Kota have decided to walk the 800km distance to reach their home in Faridkot.

They reached Rohtak on Friday, five days after they embarked on the journey wearing flip-flops and lugging bags on their shoulders. All five worked as drivers of combined harvester machines in Kota.

“Once the work was done, we started walking from Kota. With no food and water available on roads, we took connecting roads and highways, and even took shortcuts with the help of Google map,” said Shravan Singh. Pointing to his companions, whom he identified as Sukhpal, Soni, Gurpej and Angrej, he added, “All of us are from Faridkot district.”

During these last five days, they slept on roadsides, had little to eat and quenched their thirst with water from ponds and rivulets. “Our families could also be in dire need. We should be with them,” he said.

“The roads are empty and very few dhabas are open, but we still couldn’t eat there as people thrashed us for fear of contracting the coronavirus infection,” said Sukhpal. “A few odd vehicles that passed us on road, sped away the moment we signaled them for a ride.”

With more than half the distance covered, the group plans to go to Faridkot via Sirsa. At check-points, they said cops allowed them passage after checking their Aadhaar cards.

