Hundreds of labourers and their families started walking in clusters from parts of Ahmedabad including Sarkhej, Asarwa, Shahpur, Narol, Nikol and Naroda between 7-9 pm. Hundreds of labourers and their families started walking in clusters from parts of Ahmedabad including Sarkhej, Asarwa, Shahpur, Narol, Nikol and Naroda between 7-9 pm.

More than 2,000 migrant labourers in Ahmedabad traveled on foot and by other means of transportation to Rajasthan on Tuesday night when Prime Narendra Modi announced a 21-day-long lockdown across the country to break the coronavirus transmission chain.

The labourers, most of whom are daily wage earners, reached Bichhiwara tehsil under Dungarpur of Rajasthan – the nearest border which is 125 kilometres away from Ahmedabad– by Wednesday afternoon.

Hundreds of labourers and their families started walking in clusters from parts of Ahmedabad including Sarkhej, Asarwa, Shahpur, Narol, Nikol and Naroda between 7-9 pm.

Dashrath Yadav (32), a labour contractor, said that he had to walk for four hours before he could find a means of transportation. A native of Banswara in Rajasthan, Yadav had started walking with 12 friends, who are daily wage earners, around 7 pm on Tuesday from Asarwa.

“We reached Himmatnagar by 11 pm where we were stopped at a police nakabandi. We were then told to hop onto a truck that was going to Aravalli. The truck was loaded with at least 100 people and we travelled all night at a snail speed due to heavy police checking in each district,” he said.

“We just had our handkerchiefs on our faces as safety. Without any food and water, we reached Shamalaji in Aravalli and from there, we again started walking on foot for two hours and then reached Bichhiwara bus station,” Yadava added.

At Bichhiwara bus station, hundreds of people had lined up outside ticket counters.

“We have our labourer brothers from Jaipur, Jodhpur, Banswara, Dungarwara and Udaipur in majority over here. I also started walking after 9 pm when the lockdown was announced and somehow reached here, without food or water. Finally, we received some refreshment in Bichhiwara,” said Shankarbhai Yadav, another labourer from Banswara.

Rajasthan government officials confirmed that over 2,000 people from Ahmedabad reached the Bichhiwara bus station by Wednesday morning despite the lockdown.

“We have arranged three Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation buses and 15-20 private mini buses and vehicles for the stranded people. They are being placed in the buses one by one to ensure that social distancing is maintained,” said Amrit Patel, Bichhiwara tehsildar.

Meanwhile, Ahmedabad Police Wednesday arranged 15 vehicles for over 500 labourers from Madhya Pradesh, trapped in Odhav area.

“We arranged a total of 15 vehicles for them to be taken to Godhra and Dahod and from there, they can cross the border and go to their native places,” said RG Jadeja, incharge, Odhav police station.

However, several migrant labourers are stranded in Vadodara with no option to go back to their hometowns.

Hariabhai Dhama (34), a contractual labourer, said that he cannot go back to his home in Dahod, which is almost 150 kilometres away from the city, with his wife, ailing mother and three children.

“We have been out of work for the last five days and now it is almost 20 days more. We are surviving on the savings now. But we do not want to head back because my mother cannot walk.”

A few kilometres away from Vadodara, 13 migrant labourers working at a construction site in Bhayli have started a journey of almost 200 kilometres on foot to their villages in Madhya Pradesh.

The group even includes a two-year-old child.

“What will we eat here without money? We were paid on a daily basis. We have been out of work for the last five days. Twenty one days is a long time to sustain with four members in a family including small children,” says Sarthi Bhil, from Ranapur village in Jhabua.

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