Day workers fill trains out of Mumbai as virus dries up jobs

Migrant workers are swarming rail stations in India’s financial capital Mumbai to go to their home villages as virus-control measures dry up work in the hard-hit region.

“What do I do now?” asked Ramzan Ali, who’d been earning up to 500 rupees ($7) per day as a laborer but has been out of work for two weeks.

He arrived at Kurla railroad station on Friday morning and joined a long line to buy a ticket to board a train for Balrampur, his village in northern Uttar Pradesh state. Ali, 47, hopes to find some work in the village to feed his wife and four children.

The government of Maharashtra state imposed lockdown-like curbs on Wednesday for 15 days to check the spread of the virus. It closed most industries, businesses and public places and limited the movement of people, but didn’t stop the bus, train and air services.

An exodus ensued, with panicked day laborers hauling backpacks onto overcrowded trains leaving Mumbai — travel that raises fears of infections spreading in rural areas.

Maharashtra has been the centre of the nation’s recent record surge. On Friday, India recorded another high of 217,353 new cases in the past 24 hours, pushing its total past 14.2 million. The Health Ministry also reported 1,185 fatalities in the past 24 hours, raising deaths to 174,308.

The rush among migrant workers is not as desperate as last year when Indian Railways suspended all passenger train services during a strict and sudden nationwide lockdown. That forced tens of thousands of impoverished migrant workers to walk or ride trucks and buses in soaring heat.

Also, northern states like Punjab, Haryana and New Delhi and western Rajasthan state haven’t seen large-scale movement of migrant workers yet because it’s the harvesting season. Big farms have hired workers to harvest wheat and other crops and prepare for sowing new crops.

Mohammad Aslam, 24, is a tailor in Mumbai but says he has been sitting idle for 18 days. He was in line to board a train with relatives and others heading to the town of Muzzaffaarpur in eastern Bihar state.

“My extended family has a farm there and I can earn some money by working there,” he said.

Shiva Sanjeev, 27, is desperate to get on to a train as his 70-year-old grandfather is seriously ill in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh state. “I am getting frantic calls from my parents and other family members to get back to my hometown.”