The current situation at Bandra Station, now dispersed or even the rioting in Surat is a result of the Union Govt n… https://t.co/fIw49kWo22 — Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) 1586868205000

MUMBAI: A large number of labourers gathered outside Bandra station (West) violating the lockdown norms, demanding to be allowed to return to their native states. They were upset with the lockdown extension as they had no work or money to pay rent to slumlords.They were protesting since 3pm and not ready to leave even after two hours of negotiation by police and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials. The BMC called a food truck in a bid to pacify them by distributing ration. Some people queued to collect the ration, but another group objected to it stating that they would not leave without assurance to arrange transportation for them to return to their home states.Heavy police deployment was called in the area for crowd control. Former corporator from the area, Rehbar Khan (whose wife is currently corporator from the area) said, “It was an unorganized leaderless crowd. We asked them to form a small group to discuss their issue. On the request of police, adjoining mosque's maulana made appeal to pacify the crowd but in vain.”When crowds started to push each other over collection of food items, the situation went out of control and police had to use lathicharge.Witnesses said that most of the labourers were from slum outside Bandra (West), but some of their village friends (facing the same issue) came from Bandra ((East) slum and joined the protest.Most of the labourers are from West Bengal Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. They do menial jobs for survival and live in groups in tiny shanties after paying rent to slumlords. They got agitated after news of lockdown extension.The crowd told the police and BMC officials that the authorities should arrange trains/buses for them to facilitate their return to their home states, or permit them to go by foot. They also complained that due to no work they were unable to pay rent to slumlords and had no ration. Police and BMC assured to address their food and rent issues, but the crowd refused to disperse.A civic official said that through NGOs, they provide food packets daily in the area. But, the demand was more and they were trying to fulfil it. Shiv Sena minister Aaditya Thackeray tweeted saying: “The current situation at Bandra station, now dispersed or even the rioting in Surat is a result of the Union government not being able to take a call on arranging a way back home for migrant labours. They don’t want food or shelter, they want to go back home.”