The lockdown has found its namesake in Tripura.
Six days back, Puja Bauri, wife of migrant worker Sanjay Bauri, gave birth to a boy amid the lockdown. On Saturday, Bauri decided to name his child Lockdown, in remembrance of the unprecedented situation prevailing in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Bauri, 32, who hails from Rajasthan’s Dausa district, sells balloons and other toys here. “We shall remember this present crisis throughout life since we have not faced such a situation ever before,” said Bauri. “We have been stranded here for a month as we couldn’t go back to our village because of the lockdown. Meanwhile, my wife gave birth to a boy. Today, we decided to name him Lockdown since he was born amid the lockdown and just to remember this crisis day,” he added.
Bauri and his wife took shelter at Badharghat Higher Secondary School near Agartala railway station along with 16 others. He said Government Railway Police (GRP) helped them. “They took her to hospital and after my son was born, they provided us medicines, fruits and other essential commodities,” he said.
He said more than 60 migrant workers are stranded in Tripura and they have taken shelter at two different locations here.
Puja said, “The doctors said the baby’s health is fine. I want to go to my village and want to meet my family members. However, we are stranded here owing to the lockdown.” She said there were some complications in delivery and therefore, decided to name the baby Lockdown to remember the day.
GRP superintendent of police Pinaki Samanta said the migrant labourers from Rajasthan had got stranded at the railway station when the lockdown was announced.
“We have provided them food, medicines and other essentials. We shifted the pregnant woman to the hospital a few days back. She gave birth to a healthy boy. We are giving them food, nutritional supplement, medicines and other necessities. From our side, we have helped 27 migrant vendors and provided them shelter and food,” Samanta said.
Dr Purba Biswas, a senior practitioner attached to Tripura police, treated the newborn on Saturday. After finishing the check-up, she said he was fine and gave the parents a batch of medicines for the baby and his mother.
Migrant vendors from Rajasthan, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, carrying huge loads of cheap plastic ware on their head and shouting out for customers, is a common scene almost anywhere in India. In Tripura, they visit for six months at the outset of every year and keep going in rotation.
However, the migrant vendors here have claimed that the foodgrains they are receiving from the government was not sufficient and demanded some money to buy other commodities and to go back to their villages.
Kamala, a sexagenarian, who took shelter in the same camp, said, “We are not receiving sugar, tea or soap. We don’t have any money. I just want to go home as my husband is not well. Nobody is there with my husband. Who will give him food? I am in trouble. It’s my humble request to the government to help me.”
Badhu Ram, 55, also said they are not receiving sugar, milk and tea.
“We are not receiving sugar, tea and milk for our children. They are crying for biscuits and cakes but how to give them? We don’t have a single penny. We don’t have soap as well to wash our hands and clothes. The government is only providing us dal, wheat, potato, rice and oil, which is also insufficient. Within a few days, the rations get over. We sell balloons and other toys. However, owing to the lockdown, we don’t have any business and no money to spend. I hope the government will provide us some more essential commodities,” he said.
Naresh Sahani, 42, of Bihar, also a migrant vendor, asked the government to help them financially so they could buy other essential commodities from shops.
