Lockdown doesnt mean lockup: Maha CM to migrant workers

Mumbai: Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday, April 14 said that lockdown does not mean that you are in a lock up. He was addressing those migrant workers who assembled at Bandra station wanting to return to their homes.

Thackeray assured the migrant workers that the day the lockdown is lifted, the Centre and state government would make all arrangements for them to return home and said that until then they will be taken care of in Maharashtra.

About 1,000 migrant workers who earn daily wages gathered in Mumbai’s Bandra area on Tuesday demanding transport arrangements for them to go back to their native places, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced extension of the coronavirus-enforced lockdown till May 3.

A police official said the migrants were dispersed two hours later and have been assured that they will be provided accommodation and food till the lockdown lasts.

In viral videos, police personnel were seen using mild cane-charge to disperse the migrants, who had gathered near the Bandra railway station in suburban Mumbai.

Daily wage workers have been rendered jobless ever since the lockdown was announced late last month to stem the spread of COVID-19, making their lives a constant struggle.