Hundreds of migrant workers were left stranded in the industrial state of Gujarat after they were stopped from entering neighbouring Rajasthan amid a COVID-19 lockdown on Monday.
Rajasthan Police intercepted the workers, who had fled Gujarat, and brought them back to the Ratanpur border following an Indian Home Ministry order that “no one can leave their place under lockdown”.
As per local media reports, Rajasthan Police caught the workers near Dungarpur and asked Gujarat Police to take them back.
“We are from the Mewat region of Haryana and had been trying to cross Rajasthan to reach our native homes. Now, the police from the two states have not been allowing us to go to either side", workers can be heard saying in the video.
Since the Indian Home Ministry tightened the rules for workers fleeing states, a similar situation has cropped up at different state borders such as Delhi, Kerala, and Maharashtra.
Indian Labourers in No Man's Land.
— Rishikesh Kumar (@rishhikesh) March 31, 2020
Thousands of labourers who fled to Rajasthan have been brought back to Gujarat border as Indian home ministry ordered that no one can leave their place under #lockdown.@SputnikInt#Coronavirustruth pic.twitter.com/zLrCM9Ryek
“Directions were issued that district and state borders should be effectively sealed. States were directed to ensure that there is no movement of people across cities or on highways. Only movement of goods should be allowed”, says a statement issued by the ministry on Sunday.
The Home Ministry ordered that those who have violated the lockdown and travelled during it will be subject to a minimum 14 days of quarantine in government facilities. The state administration is responsible for providing the necessary facilities including food and shelter to stranded workers in different states.
The Supreme Court of India, on Tuesday, also instructed the Indian government to provide medicine and food to workers across the country.
The Modi government has ordered all of the country's 35 states to ensure the timely payment of wages to labourers at their workplaces without any cuts during the lockdown.
Since the announcement of a 21-day lockdown by Prime Minister Modi on 24 March, millions of migrant workers began commuting on foot from largers cities to their home states, citing shortages of food and money due to the closure of business establishments.
