Migrants defy lockdown, stage protest in Mumbai, Thane and Surat

Mumbai, Apr 14: A large group of migrant workers defied lockdown orders and came together in Mumbai's Bandra demanding transport arrangements to go back to their native places.

The migrant workers said that they were left without jobs and asked the government to arrange transport for them to go back to their homes. The police had to resort to lathicharge in order to disperse them.

Similar crowds were witnessed in Thane's Mumbra, Gujarat's Surat, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.

A police official told news agency PTI that daily wage earners numbering around 1,000, assembled at suburban Bandra (West) bus depot near the railway station and squatted on road a around 3 pm.

Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray reacted to the incident of migrant workers gathering at the Bandra bus station demanding transportation to return home.

The hundreds of migrant workers who gathered outside Bandra railway station here on Tuesday might have expected that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would order reopening of state borders, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said.

They were told by the police that borders are not going to be opened and the situation was now under control, he said.

The migrants were assured that the state government will make arrangement of food and accommodation for them, following which the crowds dispersed, he said.

"Lakhs of workers from other states work in Mumbai. They expected that the PM would open the state borders today. They felt they could go to their home states," the minister said.

Similar scenes were reported from Thane district. Several migrant labourers gathered in Mumbra as well. They demanded that they be allowed to go back to their hometowns.

Reportedly, around 150 migrant workers from Hyderabad started their journey on foot to Palasa in Srikakulam of Andhra Pradesh.

Hundreds of migrant workers converged at Varachha's Mohan Nagar in Surat. They too demanded provisions to be sent back home.

This comes hours after Prime Minister Narendra announced his decision to extend the coronavirus lockdown in the country till May 3 in order to control the spread of the deadly infection.

While announcing his decision, PM Modi had said that rules for lockdown this time would be more stringent, saying it was the only way to break the chain of the deadly virus that has affected over 10,000 and claimed the lives of more than 350 in India so far.