A group of migrant labourers who undertook a long painstaking journey from Mumbai to reach their native village in Gonda in Madhya Pradesh, are now being forced to spend their quarantine period in an open field.
"From Mumbai till Gonda it took us about 10 days. We had come here hoping to live in our safe homes amid the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown. However, upon reaching here the villagers have shut the doors on us. They say we bring coronavirus," said Ram Tirath Yadav, a labourer who used to earn his daily living in Mumbai.
Speaking on keeping the migrant labourers at a distance from the village, a woman said, "During the journey from Mumbai to Gonda, my son met with an accident in which he fractured his leg. However, I cannot go near him. Every day, like other people in the village, I come to the ground to keep the food and then stand at a distance while somebody comes to pick it up."
Another labourer, Harish Yadav said: "In Mumbai, we faced a shortage of food ever since the lockdown was imposed, here no one from the administration has come to take us to a sheltered quarantine facility."
Meanwhile, District Magistrate Nitin Bansal said, "Several people are arriving here via trains, state buses and private vehicles. Everyone is getting tested for coronavirus and then proper steps are being taken as per the guidelines issued by the Central Government."
( With inputs from ANI )