On Friday evening, many of the migrant workers stranded in Mumbai amid the coronavirus outbreak and consequent lockdown left for home.
According to an NDTV report, thousands of people had queued up in four lengthy parallel lines at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus as they waited to board special trains to go home. The Indian Railways incidentally is running "shramik special trains" that will ferry these migrants workers back to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other distant states.
In recent times, there have been a spate of incidents where migrants, after finding themselves stranded far away from home, had opted to walk back home. Several people have also passed away as they walked thousands of miles back home.
As the lockdown came into effect on March 25, many of these migrants had found themselves without jobs, and soon after, without any money to sustain themselves.
More recently, the Maharashtra authorities had made is even harder for those wishing to leave, asking them to fill out an application form and submit it to the local police station. Accordingly, a list is prepared, and the migrants are given a date on which they can board a train.
Many who went home don't seem to be in a hurry to come back.
NDTV quoted one individual as saying, that having faced many problems in the city, "we will never come back to Mumbai". Alleging that the government did not help them, the person said that they'd prefer to manage with a limited income in their home town.
On Friday, India crossed China's COVID-19 case tally, having recorded more than 85,000 cases so far. Maharashtra has the highest number of cases at present, and Mumbai has so far recorded 17,512 positive cases and 655 people have passed away.
In other travel-related news, the special train carrying 670 passengers from Delhi reached Bhubaneswar railway station, on Friday evening. News agency ANI reported that quarantine stamps with indelible ink had been marked on the hands of the passengers.
