In separate incidents, the Thane (rural) police intercepted and impounded two trucks in the Mira Road and Bhayandar areas. The trucks were preparing to ferry around 72 migrant workers to their hometowns in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.
The police action was reported late on Friday night.
Acting on a tip-off, the police swung into action and found the migrant workers crammed inside the goods delivery trucks. It emerged that the migrants who had worked in local establishments -- mainly steel utensil manufacturing units in the industrial area of the twin-city -- were abandoned by their employers in the wake of the deadly coronavirus outbreak and subsequent lockdown imposed by the government authorities.
The truck drivers were arrested and booked by the Navghar Police under the relevant sections of the IPC and the Epidemic Diseases Act and the Disaster Management Act.
The Thane (rural) police has effectively shut its border with Thane, Palghar and Mumbai by restricting “non-essential” vehicular traffic from the neighbouring cities to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
