A migrant labourer from Bihar died on Tuesday morning and his companion was injured after a sports utility vehicle ran over them on a highway in Haryana’s Ambala district while they were walking back to their hometowns, reported Hindustan Times.
The deceased, identified as 25-year-old Ashok Kumar, was killed on the spot and the other person is being treated at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh. The driver of the vehicle that ran over the two fled after the episode.
The police said the incident took place near Khuda Khurd village on the Ambala-Saha National Highway 444A that links Ambala district with Yamunanagar and then with Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district.
Mahesh Nagar police officials said the two migrant workers were employed in a factory in Ambala’s Naggal Kardhan area. They began walking back to their native place on Tuesday morning during the coronavirus-induced lockdown that is set to end in five days.
One of the labourers, who is part of the group that the two were travelling with, said they had started their journey on foot from Ludhiana in Punjab on Sunday after they were unable to register for the “Shramik Special” trains. The Centre has made arrangements for the special trains to ferry migrant workers back to their native places.
Meanwhile, three migrant workers, including a woman and her daughter, have been killed in separate accidents since Monday evening. They had travelled thousands of kilometres to reach their village amid the nationwide lockdown.
The woman and her six-year-old daughter were part of a group that was travelling from Maharashtra to Uttar Pradesh, according to NDTV. The two had travelled 1,300 km in an autorickshaw for three days when a truck hit them a few kilometres away from their destination in Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh.
In the third case, 25-year-old Shiv Kumar Das, was killed in UP’s Raebareli district while he was cycling back to his hometown in Bihar, reported Dainik Jagran. Das was part of a group that had travelled from western Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district.
The nationwide lockdown that was first imposed on March 25 has been extended twice – first till May 3 and then until May 17. This left lakhs of migrant workers stranded as they struggled to make ends meet and many demanded permission to go back home.
Last month, the Ministry of Home Affairs had allowed the movement of migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and “other persons” by “Shramik Special” trains to be operated by the railways during the lockdown. However, by this time, many migrant workers had already attempted to travel home on foot, but some were stopped owing to the closure of state borders. Some also died on their way while a few others died in accidents.
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