Lockdown forces migrants to return to native places

Some walk their way, unable find transport

K. Mohan and his five friends were walking on the national highway 65 at Pothireddypally at the district headquarters town. All of them are from Kohir and surrounding villages near Zaheerabad and working at a function hall in Attapur in Hyderabad. They were on foot to their destination, about 40 km from here, unable to find transport. Till Tuesday afternoon, they were in a relaxed mood as both Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar had repeatedly said there would be no lockdown in Telangana as it was of no use to arrest the spread of corona pandemic. All of a sudden, lockdown was announced by the government. Though they made efforts to start on Tuesday evening itself, their employer said money could be arranged only the next day. By the time they got money, it was too late to get a transport. By catching some vehicles they were able to reach Sangareddy. From here, they had to walk till they got their next vehicle. The case of Naresh, Nitish and Hareesh is not much different. Natives of Odisha, they had been working in a restaurant in the district headquarters for the past few years. On Wednesday morning, they were walking towards the highway from the town as even auto-drivers were not stopping.