Anil Joshi, a resident of Lucknow, who, with six others, including one child, and two women, had come to Assam for a pilgrimage on March 18, is now stuck at Hojai and want to return home desperately.

“We are here from almost last 45 days. We are getting minimum ration from the local police station but we are now out of money. The local superintendent of police called and took our details and they helped us but when we said we want to return, he said you have arrange your own vehicle. But where will I get a vehicle?” Joshi asked.

Joshi said they approached a taxi driver but he asked for a fare of about Rs 60,000 to Delhi. “How can we pay them such huge amount? We ask the government to arrange the transportation,” Joshi said.

Similar is the plight of Sourav Dey and his wife, Ga-nga, also tourists who came to Gouripur Rajbari, in Dhubri district on March 21 and are stuck due to the lockdown and hence cannot return home.

Hojai and Dhubri are about 430km from each other. But to leave the Northeast, one has to either go through Dhubri or Kokrajhar bordering Bengal.

From all accounts, their ordeal is unlikely to end soon. For it is the responsibility of their native states to ensure their return, officials said.

The Assam government has started registration of people from other states stranded in Assam, who wish to travel to their home states by making their own arrangements. So far, no state has requisitioned any train or bus to carry its stranded people from the Northeast, officials here said.

The police in every district have asked such people to send details via email or WhatsApp.

Assam additional director-general of police (security) Harmeet Singh, the nodal officer for inter-state movement, said, “Those from outside the state, who are stranded here are likely to go, but everything has opened up so why would people who have proper jobs want to leave?”

So far, Punjab and Bihar governments have got in touch with Assam police to find ways for people from those states to return from Assam. Those who have private vehicles, can go to their respective states after getting passes from the local deputy commissioner.

“If everyone comes back, who will work after 15 days? They are all in the same country, why rush back? Once businesses open, as they are, it would be back to normal. Minimum passengers needed to run a train is 1,080 to a specific destination. Can’t run them for a few. No stops en route. We can send people who have their own arrangements. For others, they have to seek arrangements from their respective states or wait for trains/buses to start. That we are doing,” G.P. Singh, the additional director-general of police, law and order, said.

“It is the responsibility of the state to which the stranded people belong to organise their return. Nodal officers will help them,” chief secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna said.

Though Dispur put the onus on the respective states to help the migrants who are stuck in Assam, BJP-ruled Tripura will only bear the cost of sending back 33,000 migrant workers to their states and also pay from its own coffers to bring back its own people.