Coronavirus: As factories shut and transport halts, migrant labourers head home on foot
Labourers are being forced to walk long distances.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement locking the country down at four hours’ notice has left many daily-wage earners in jeopardy. The lack of public transport like trains and buses has forced a number of migrant labourers to walk back hundreds of kilometres to their hometowns after businesses that employ them were shut down.
In a video posted by NDTV journalist Alok Pandey, a 20-year-old migrant labourer who was working in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao said that he had walked to Lucknow from his workplace, and was planning on walking further to his hometown Barabanki. The total distance is around 80 km. The factory where the labourer was employed had shut down, and the owners had asked the workers to vacate the premises.