Pune: Police lathi-charge migrant workers who gathered to read ‘poster’ on how to reach their villages

Pune, May 4, 2020: Hundreds of migrant workers gathered under the Warje flyover this morning in the hope of getting back to their hometown as the lockdown has been relaxed. Warje police station under Pune city police resorted to mild lathi-charge to disperse the crowd.

The Warje Malwadi area is home to a large number of migrant labourers. They could not return to their hometowns, villages due to lockdown after Coronavirus outbreak in India. The workers had started preparing to move to their hometown after relaxation in lockdown was announced yesterday. Hundreds of workers had gathered under the Warje bridge on Monday morning.

They had received information that a leaflet on how to get to their states had been put up under the flyover. The labourers initially began to question the police. The number of workers, which was initially low, gradually increased. As the crowd grew, the police eventually had to use batons to disperse them.

Everyone is terrified by the corona, just as everyone is trying to get back to their hometown. Some reached their villages before the lockdown, but some labourers could not get back to their hometowns and they are stuck. About 500 labourers had gathered under the bridge after the news spread that the information to go to the village was pasted under the bridge.

Meanwhile, Senior Police Inspector Ashok Kadam, in-charge of Warje Malwadi Police Station, said that since afternoon, the work of preparing the list of migrant labourers in Barate Chawl has started in Warje area.