‘The migrant workers are the ones who have really suffered in this lockdown,’ says Bhaichung Bhutia as he talks about the hardships faced by workers who are trying now to return to their hometowns, following the 21-day national lockdown announced by the Prime Minister, in an effort to fight the Coronavirus.

On Monday, the former Indian football captain announced that he had offered his building in Lumsey, Tdong in Sikkim as a shelter for some migrant workers in the state.

‘Yesterday, we had thousands of them (migrant workers) lined up at the Sikkim border trying to cross. What I could see what a lot of them don’t have a place to stay. I saw that the friends’ of labourers working in my building had nowhere to go, so I told them to come and stay in the building. I’m sure there will be many more like them. So I offered my unfinished building,’ said Bhutia.