A group of 106 migrant workers from Bengal stuck in Thane, Maharashtra, because of the lockdown decided to cycle all the way home to North 24-Parganas, more than 2,200km away, but cut short their journey after hearing about Tuesday’s police crackdown at Bandra station.

Yunus Ali, 26, a tailor in Yogeshwari, was among those who had embarked on the mission impossible.

Yunus, along with Selima Biswas, 36, Irshad Mandal, 28, and others had started off on cycles from Indira Nagar, Bhayandar East, on Tuesday afternoon.

The fleet comprised 50 cycles and among those riding them were labourers at steel factories and masons.

Most rode the cycles that they use to reach railway stations on their way to work every morning. A few cycles were donated by a group of Thane residents with roots in Bengal.

Each cycle carried two workers who took turns at the pedal.

“It would have taken us seven, may be eight days. It did not matter. We were starving and out of resources. We were so desperate that we thought of cycling to our our villages,” said Yunus, whose home is in Dakshin Shimulia village, Baduria.

“Our stock of food that representatives of NGO Prantojon, that operates from Bengal, had bought for us at the start of the lockdown ran out on Saturday. We approached the Thane Nagar police station but the help they provided was not enough,” said Irshad Mandal, who hails from Aatghara village in Swarupnagar, North 24- Parganas.

Yunus and his colleagues cut short the journey after they came to know about the police crackdown on migrant workers who had assembled at Bandra station on Tuesday, hoping to catch a train home.

At least 1,000 migrant workers, including those from Bengal, stranded in Mumbai had gathered near Bandra station on Tuesday afternoon, demanding to be allowed to return home, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an extension of the lockdown till May 3. Police allegedly lathicharged to disperse the mob.

“We suspended the journey as I received an alert on my mobile. What if police had assaulted us? We had women in our group. Prantojon members advised us to return and promised to help,” Yunus said.

Soumya Sahin of the New Town-based Prantojon said the plight of the likes of Yunus revealed the lack of planning behind the lockdown.

“They haven’t earned anything for close to a month. They have to pay monthly rents. The help from the police is meagre. They told us that police verbally abused them so much that they did not feel like approaching them again,” said Sahin, who teaches economics at the National University of Juridical Sciences.

Sahin transferred money through Google-Pay to Yunus, enabling him to buy rice, pulses and other items on Wednesday.