The ongoing Covid 19 pandemic terror has engulfed the entire country with cases of dreaded Coronavirus enhancing day by day to an uncontrollable phase, especially after relaxations in various services and sectors with partial opening of train and air services as well.
The ongoing lockdown which is presently valid till 31st May extended after having been imposed on 25th March by Prime minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation on the same pattern as his sudden speech to announce demonetisation made everybody in the country awestruck finally leading to massive unemployment, chaos and confusion at the pan India level.
In both these situations, though it looked mandatory and utmostly necessary in the current case as it is the question to save the precious lives of countrymen from dreaded pandemic, ( but) the migrants, labourers, economically deprived and the people of the grass roots were the actual sufferers who were hungry n thirsty with parched throats walking on roads under scorching sun to reach their respective destinations after loosing their jobs, ( Rozi n Roti).
The prime minister Narendra Modi have been in the forefront to counter this epidemic and have held several vedio conference interactions with chief ministers of the state and senior bureaucrats including the representatives of Panchayat in order to find ways and means to combat this deadly pathogen. A massive financial stimulus package of Rs 20 lakh crores was also announced to revive the deteriorating economy of the country and help the migrants, small entrepteneurs, middle class n those hailing from the lowest ebb of the society etc in view of the lockdown of more than two months.
Tall talks, assurances and commitments were made by the finance minister in her five press conferences claiming to be the sole balm appliers on the wounds of the poor n hapless migrants n labourers of the country by helping them financially and with free distribution of Ration etc.
It may be recalled that when demonetisation was implemented all of a sudden, there was total chaos in the country as not only good number of poor n hapless people succumbed to heat strokes and heart failures and lakhs of migrants losing jobs but during this current lockdown as well, hundreds of the migrant population died in road accidents, due to scorching heat, or after being mowned down by the running trains.
The entire media, print or electronic and social networking sites are telecasting the most tragic and mental as well as phyically tortuous real stories of these poor n hapless women, children, old aged people in fatigue n in tatters covering hundreds of kilometres on foot to reach their homes with parched throat, thirsty and hungry.
Several pregnant women travelled hundreds of kilometres with children under the scorching sun. The assurances of those at the helm of affairs to ferry these poor migrants to their states via train free of cost also proved to be an open lie as they ( migrant laborers)were all allegedly charged a hefty fare. Hundreds of thousands of labourers n their wives and children had hired trucks to reach their homes by paying lakhs of rupees thus losing their hard earned incomes.
Hundreds of thousands of these unfortunate people developed terrible boils under their feets and fever while covering hundreds of kilometres on foot or through rickshaws. Some died on the way due to starvation, abnormal health condition, thirst and lack of medical aid. Hundreds of them might have extracted deadly Corona virus.
No state governments or their official representatives came to their rescue on the way complained these suffering migrants.
The Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath had instructed police officers to arrest those who are leaving for their hometowns on foot or by vehicles as incidents of accidents n subsequent deaths were reported from various parts of Uttar Pradesh. The Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi sought permission for plying 1000 buses in Uttar Pradesh from Delhi, Ghaziabad and other destinations to help the migrants reach their respective destinations but the Uttar Pradesh government, the BJP leaders and the Congress got involved in accusations and counter accusations against each other thus rendering thousands of migrant population in problem and quandary.
It took several days to fulfill Priyanka’s wish to ferry these poor n hapless labourers n migrant population to their destinations. This is indeed unjustifiable. It’s always the poor, hapless and the economically deprived persons who suffer the most n adversely by the prevailing system and during these challenging critical times of Covid 19 pandemic the middle class, lower middle class and those hailing from the lowest echelons of the society are the real sufferers who’ve been battered by destiny, system and the worst pandemic Covid 19.
It seems that the plight of the migrant population suffering from hunger, instability, and untold sufferings after having lost their jobs and future earning sources have been so badly terrorised by the prevailing pathogen and its post dangerous effects that millions of them will prefer staying in their villages with limited resources of survival than to again come back to these dream cities n metropolises like Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta or Vadodara etc.
