Agra: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of a 21-day national lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic has triggered a mass exodus of migrant workers.
As thousands tried to reach their homes on foot, daily wage labourers, children and pregnant women among them, camped at Pratap Chowk in Agra in hope of food, travel and accommodation arrangements. They keep travelling through the night and even sleep on the roads when they get tired.
With the government imposing strict restrictions on crossing borders, most migrants are now stuck in between, with no food or shelter.
ThePrint’s Praveen Jain brings pictures from Agra.
Tragic. If state capacity existed, these people should have been given food and some monetary assistance where they lived. Not in some half way land. Allowing them to return swiftly to their villages is still the best option. 2. Karma is a bitch. One state was locked down. Detention centres were being built.