Three labourers from Khunti, working in Haryana walked over 1,200km from the Uttar Pradesh border to reach home amid the lockdown.

The three, in their early 20s, reached Birsa Chowk in Ranchi, 35km from Khunti, around 11.30am on Saturday after a six-day journey on foot.

“We worked as loaders at a garment factory in Barigaon, Hisar, Haryana, close to UP. When the lockdown started, we were laid off. In days, our savings vanished. We had to depend on local philanthropists who gave people like us food once a day at 4pm,” said Jyoti Paik, one of the trio.

He added that they had no idea when the lockdown would end, and could not contact a single person who could tell them about special trains to return. “We only knew hunger,” he said, adding that spurred them to walk. “A kind person dropped us to the UP border by bus on May 3, and from there we walked.”

The other two, Johan Soy and Samika Bhuia, echoed Paik and said they could not think of any other alternative.

“We ate biscuits most of the way, and walked separately, with at least 50 feet among all three of us to avoid police suspicion. Our phone batteries died on the way,” Soy said.

Earlier on May 7, 26 migrant workers from Rajasthan’s Alwar district were noticed at Booty Mor in Ranchi bound for their homes in Chaibasa and Hazaribagh.

Ranchi deputy commissioner Rai Mahimapat Ray said the administration gave aid to those who came back walking. “We have helped around 350 such migrant workers reach home when we realised that they walked back from other states as they felt they had no option,” he said.