They demand to be allowed to return to their villages, cite lack of food and facilities

For the second time in less than a week, hundreds of restless migrant workers in Surat came out on the road, complaining about the lack of food and demanding that they be allowed to return to their home towns, even as the authorities extended the lockdown to contain the COVID-19 pandemic till May 3.

More than 500 workers, mostly engaged in textile and embroidery work in factories, came out on Tuesday evening, asking police and other officials to allow them to go back to their villages. Most of the workers are from Odisha, U.P., Bihar and Tamil Nadu.

“They are restless and anxious to return to their villages,” a police official from Surat told The Hindu. The official added that the migrant workers appear to be very tense and don’t want to stay indoors for the next three weeks without work and without adequate arrangements for their food, sanitation and other basic needs.

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After being persuaded by the authorities, the crowd that had gathered in the Varachha area, a hub for migrant workers employed in the diamond factories and textiles units of the city, dispersed amidst shouting that they wanted to go back home.