Maharashtra orders probe into rumours that led migrants’ rush at Bandra
WEB DESK
A political slugfest has broke out between the Maharashtra ruling parties and the BJP-led central government after more than a thousand migrant workers gathered in Mumbai demanding transport arrangements to go back to their native places. The massive gathering came hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an extension of the coronavirus-enforced lockdown till May 3.
In viral videos, the police were seen using canes to disperse the migrants who had gathered near the Bandra railway station in suburban Mumbai. Later, an FIR was registered against at least a thousand of these workers for causing a public health scare and assembling at one place in defiance of the lockdown. A person identified as Vinay Dubey was taken into custody by the Navi Mumbai Police for mobilising the crowd and spreading rumours.
In a similar protest, hundreds of migrant workers took to the streets of Mumbra in Thane district, demanding they be sent to their hometowns. The workers, mostly from Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and living in rented accommodations, claimed that houseowners were demanding rent from them and that they were unable to procure essentials.
Daily-wage workers have been rendered jobless since the lockdown was announced late last month. Although authorities and NGOs have made arrangements for food, most of them want to go back to their native places to escape the hardship brought by the sweeping curbs.
Maharashtra’s home minister Anil Deshmukh late Tuesday night ordered a probe into rumours that fuelled a rush of migrant workers to the Bandra West railway station in Mumbai in the afternoon despite the lockdown.
“I have ordered an investigation into the rumour that claimed trains to take migrants back home. Those found guilty of sparking such rumours will be dealt severely invoking the fullest force of law,” Deshmukh tweeted.