Migrants sit-in at highway, demand transport home

Pune: Hundreds of migrant labourers gathered on in Maharashtra's Kolhapur district on Thursday, demanding special trains to their hometowns in the northern states, police said. Labourers from Shiroli MIDC, who were stranded since the COVID-19 lockdown was enforced, gathered on the highway to voice their demands, the official said. As the crowd swelled in the area, the police were deployed to convince the protesting labourers to clear out and subsequently the district collector and police superintendent also reached the spot, he said.

The authorities were trying to convince the migrants that they will be allowed to return to their home states depending on the availability of trains, he added. Labourers, who were predominantly from Uttar Pradesh, said they wished to head to their hometowns, as they had left their living quarters and did not have work or means to survive the lockdown, the official said.