Maharashtra / Train from Mumbai to UP seen packed with migrant labourers as cases rise

Mumbai: Fearing another lockdown in the wake of a sudden spike in coronavirus infections in Mumbai, several migrant workers and their families were seen leaving the city and heading towards their native places.

An Uttar Pradesh-bound train was seen packed with migrant labourers at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai on Thursday. "This train will go to Gorakhpur. We're leaving the city because Covid-19 cases are rising here," ANI quoted a passenger as saying.

Other major cities are facing a similar situation with several States/UTs including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab and others have announced a slew of restrictions including night curfews and lockdowns due to a recent spike in Covid-19 infections in the country.

The complete lockdown that was imposed last year had triggered a migrant crisis that was termed as the biggest human exodus since the partition of the country in 1947. Hundreds of thousands of migrant labourers stranded in urban areas with no livelihood and very little to survive during the coronavirus-induced lockdown forcing them to take to the path of their native places on foot.

However, the central government had later organised safe travel of these migrant labourers to their native places through Shramik special trains.

Covid situation in Mumbai

Mumbai had on Thursday reported 8,938 new Covid-19 cases, a drop from over 10,000 infections each on the previous two days, and 23 fresh deaths, the city civic body said.

According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) updated data, with the addition of 8,938 cases, the city's Covid-19 tally surged to 4,91,698, while the death toll jumped to 11,874.