A large number of migrant daily wage earners In Mumbai and Surat came out on the road on Tuesday, demanding transport arrangements to go back to their native places. This followed Prime Mininter Narendra Modi’s announcement of extending the Covid-19 lockdown till 3 May 2020.

Daily wage workers have been rendered jobless since the lockdown was announced late last month. Many attempted going back home, resulting in tragedies and loss of lives.

Though 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.

According to a Mumbai police official, daily wage earners, numbering around 1,000, assembled at suburban Bandra (West) bus depot near the railway station and squatted on the road at around 3 pm.

These workers who reside on rent in slums in the nearby Patel Nagri locality, demanded transport facilities. They originally hail from states like West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

One of the labourers, who did not reveal his name, said, NGOs and local residents are providing food to migrant workers, but they want to go back to their native states during the lockdown which has badly affected their source of livelihood.

'We don't want food, we want to go back to our native place, we are not happy with the announcement (extending the lockdown),” he said..

Asadullah Sheikh, who hails from Malda in West Bengal, said, “We have already spent our savings during the first phase of the lockdown. We have nothing to eat now, we just want to go back to our native place, the government should make arrangements for us.”

Heavy police deployment was made at the protest site to tackle any untoward incident. Personnel from other police stations were called at the spot to maintain order, the Mumbai police official added.

Footwear of protestors is seen lying on the road after after police action on migrant workers who defied lockdown norms and wanted to leave for their native places, after the extension of lockdown till May 3 in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, outside Bandra Railway Station in Mumbai, Tuesday, April 14, 2020. PTI

In Surat, migrant workers gathered in the Varachha area of the city and sat on the road demanding that they be allowed to go home, Surat police informed.

Varachha is the diamond polishing hub of Surat, which provides employment to lakhs of workers from different parts of Gujarat and the country. Many textile units are also located here.

'These migrant workers want to go to their native places. We have asked them not to be impatient because a lockdown is in force at present. Since some of them were complaining about food, we have called an NGO and immediately brought food packets for them. The situation is now under control,' a police officer at the spot told reporters.

Local MLA and minister of state for health Kishor Kanani went to the spot to convince the migrant workers, who are mostly from Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. 'These migrant workers want to go home. They became impatient because they were hopeful that the lockdown would end today,' he said.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray tried to reassure migrant workers who are stranded in the state that lockdown is not 'lock-up', and appealed to them to face the 'challenge'.

Thackeray also said his government was working on how to lift the lockdown and resume industrial activities. Rising number of cases in Mumbai and Pune was a cause of concern, he admitted, but went on to assure that Maharashtra has conducted maximum number of coronavirus tests and has asked the Centre to allow experimental plasma treatment.