How Many Deaths Will It Take Till We Know That Too Many People Have Died...

New Delhi: It’s been close to 40 days after the sudden COVID-19 lockdown was announced on March 24, giving people just four hours to prepare. Till date, migrant workers are still walking, scraping their savings and getting fleeced in trying to reach their homes. On the way, many have died and are still dying. There is no official figure, as of now.

A few days ago, 16 migrant workers were mowed down in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, by a goods train when they were sleeping on the tracks after a long trudge, unaware of freight train movement. Most of them were poor and hailed from Jharkhand.

On Thursday, there were reports of 14 more migrant workers dying in two road accidents.

Eight migrant workers were killed and nearly 55 others injured when a truck in which they were travelling collided with a bus near Guna town in Madhya Pradesh in the early hours of Thursday, a PTI report said.

The trail of deaths continued, with six more migrant workers, who were walking to their homes in Bihar from Punjab, were killed and four others seriously injured when a roadways bus ran over them on the Delhi-Saharanpur Highway in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district.

The bus, belonging to UP Roadways, ran over the walking on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday between Ghalauli check-post and Rohana Toll Plaza, about 20 km from here, Senior Superintendent of Police Abhishek Yadav told PTI.

The bus driver has been arrested, the SSP said. Medical reports confirmed that the driver, Rajbir, was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident, Station House Officer Anil Kapervan said.

The Uttar Pradesh Roadways bus was returning to Agra from Saharanpur after dropping migrant labourers to their homes.

The UP chief minister has asked the Sahranpur Commissioner to conduct an inquiry into the incident and fix responsibility.

The deceased migrants were identified as Guddu (18) from Bhojpur, Virender Singh (28), a resident of Patna, Harek Singh (52), his son Vikas (22), Vasudev (22), Harish Sahni (42) -- all from Gopalganj, police said.

In Guna, Madhya Pradesh, the eight migrant workers who were killed and nearly 55 others injured were all aboard a truck in which they were travelling, which collided with a bus.

The accident took place around 3 a.m. The single truck was carrying nearly 65 migrant labourers from Maharashtra to Uttar Pradesh.

Superintendent of Police Tarun Nayak said those hurt were undergoing treatment at the Guna district hospital, he said, adding that none of them sustained any serious injury.

A case has been registered against the bus driver and further investigation is underway, he said.

The deceased were residents of Unnao and Rae Bareli districts of Uttar Pradesh, according to police.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said he had directed the officials concerned to ensure proper treatment of the injured persons.

The scramble among migrants to return home speaks volumes about the unplanned lockdown, which, we were told, was necessary for ‘social distancing’ to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus or COVID-19.

What unfolded, however, was the opposite of ‘social and physical distancing’. Within minutes, streets, highways, rail stations, bus depots were jammed, with families stocking up essential commodities or trying to leave for their homes.

Since then, it has been a saga of heart-wrenching incidents– of stranded migrants, penniless and hungry, walking miles and miles on foot, with pregnant women, children trudging along, risking their lives to reach the secure confines of their villages. The trail of death continues to follows them in this journey.

(with inputs from PTI)