Migrants pelt stones on MP border demanding food and transport

New Delhi, May 15: Hundreds of migrant workers pelted stones near Sendhwa on the Madhya Pradesh-Maharashtra border demanding food and transportation.

Thousands of migrants, on the way to northern states from Maharashtra amid the coronavirus crisis, are pouring in at Sendhwa in Madhya Pradesh's Barwani district.

Eye witnesses said that groups of migrants created ruckus, alleging that government made no arrangement of food and transportation for them.

In the afternoon, some of them pelted stones, but nobody was injured in the incident, witnesses said.

Shailesh Tripathi, who reached Barwani from Pune, said migrants, which included pregnant women, senior citizens and children, were facing a lot of hardship in the absence of food, water and transportation facilities.

A large number of migrants were waiting for food and transport on MP-Maharashtra border for hours, and people from Satna, Rewa, Anuppur and other districts of MP were also among them, he said.

Barwani collector Amit Tomar said the migrants were sent to transit points in different districts in 135 buses from the border.

Stone-pelting took place as some migrants felt after the buses left that there would not be any more vehicles for those left behind, but officials reassured them and calmed them down, he said.

Meanwhile, the state government said that about 15,000 migrant labourers were taken from Sendhwa border (Bijasen Ghat border) to other places in the past three days while there has been a huge influx from Maharashtra.

"The maximum pressure of migrants is being faced at Bijasan Ghat on the border of Sendhwa (MP-Maharashtra). 5,000 to 6,000 migrant workers are reaching there every day," a government statement said.

Migrant workers were being transported by buses for free to Dewas transit point after providing them food and conducting medical tests, it said.

From Dewas, they are sent to Sagar, Chhatarpur, Guna and Shivpuri by buses.

Subsequently, migrant workers of other districts of the state are transported to their home districts and those from Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar are ferried to the border of UP, the state government said.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan appealed migrants not to panic.

"Do not panic in this hour of crisis, the Government of Madhya Pradesh will ensure that every migrant worker reaches home. Arrangements for food, temporary stay, medical check-up and buses have been made. This arrangement will continue until all the migrant workers reach their destinations," Chouhan said.

Additional Chief Secretary ICP Keshari informed that over 2.26 lakh migrant workers were brought back to MP by road from other states while 86,000 migrants were brought by the special trains.