India heading towards taking COVID-19 to its highly rural areas. Poor migrants suffering amid the Coronavirus crisis that is hitting so hard on the destitute.
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| image source: Rapidleaks |
It has been 57 days since the Indian Prime Minister announced the nationwide lockdown but migrants from various parts the country are travelling on foot or by cycles. These migrants include Pregnant, old, disabled women, children of age from 3-8 months old walking on foot where ever possible. These migrant labourers are following trains tracks to reach their homes, no chance that these sufferers have GPS or Google maps to find their ways as don't even have the Food assurance, what will they eat? how will they quench their thirsty throats?
this is not enough, many migrants have died unfortunately while heading towards their home from a little girl who died some kilometres away from her home walking on foot hundred kilometres, to about 14 migrants who died by getting crushed by goods train due to sleeping on train tracks. Labourers plight should be the biggest concern of the Govt. whereas the govt. has not been much successful in helping these migrants reach their homes. Although state governments started busses service to help these migrants reach their homes, after that the central government also announced to start trains for these migrants to reach their homes but questions are being raised on its ticket fare prices why are they charging fare from these destitute? Despite these aids from the government, the destitute continue to walk up to their homes because they do not have enough money to afford and in some cases, they do not have the information or adequate resource that authorities needs for letting them board the train. many of these are coming from red zones of the country there is a high risk of transmission of COVID19 with these migrants travelling.
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migrant workers died by getting crushed by goods train.
image source: CGTN
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At the time when the economic situation of India is not good, how will these people survive in the villages? The rural health care facilities of India are in poor condition, they can't handle the sudden upsurge in COVID patients to treat them, this will be a severe challenge for the government to contain the spread in rural areas.
Govt. must ensure and build a concrete reason for migrants to stop traveling to villages and stay where they are, it must offer them shelter, food, and employment for which they came to urban to areas. the major reason why they are traveling is that they don't have enough food and money to survive in those urban areas which they left, whereas the condition for quality of employment and wages in rural areas is much low, ironical. The poor in this situation is stranded to die due to Starvation, Suicide, Fear, Diseases without a single penny. Who will come and rescue them, safeguard their lives. The Labourers, destitute who were shown the dreams to fly in the Airplane at least for once in the lifetime by various leaders, today don't have anything to go back to home or to stay at where they were staying earlier. People who showed them lavish dreams now are not talking about them and hesitate to show concern.
If this continues Millions of poor lives will be affected who don't have anything left to get themselves treated or an isolated room quarantine themselves, as reports suggest the majority of the Indian population don't have their own rooms and toilet in their homes, they love in shared rooms and spaces.
