Migrant worker, his pregnant wife and 2 kids walking to MP village from Jaipur
Rajasthan government says a whopping 9 million people have registered with the state government for permission to travel.
Lean and frail, 24-year-old Malti Arwar is walking with a handbag full of clothes balanced on her head, a nylon bag and a steel pot with food in both her hands and an eight-month-old child in her womb. Along with her husband Naresh and children Tanu and Pradeep, she started walking from Jaipur towards their village in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday.
“Chhattarpur Jila, Gram Maharajanpurva, post Bachhaun,” Naresh said, his eyes sparkling with the mention of his birthplace again and again. It doesn’t matter if it is a good 700 km away and they are on foot. The 25-year-old man is a skilled labourer and worked with a contractor for a government project before the lockdown and his wife is expecting a child soon.
He said he registered on the e-mitra for interstate travel on May 2 but after getting no response for 12 days, the family decided to hit the highway on foot. “Kisi ko jaante nahin Jaipur mein... paisa bhi khatam ho gaya,” said the 25-year-old man.
The shade from a huge bag perched on his head envelopes his sweating face. He shows the 12-digit token number generated by e-mitra portal where people wishing to travel register for permission. The token number scribbled on a paper is folded neatly and kept in the pocket of his shirt.
Naresh looks hopefully towards the highway for a ride but the vehicles passing by are few and they do not stop. After they pass, mingled sounds of anklets and rubber slippers of Malti scrapping the scorching charcoal can be clearly heard as she totters along. While 5-year-old Pradeep adjusts his toy goggles and the mask he put on especially for the long walk home, they have just reached Paldi Meena near Kanota.
Jaipur district collector Joga Ram said the administration has set up camps for workers walking on highways. “We have requested them not to walk. We have also pressed 15 buses to bring walking people to these camps,” he said.
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According to information provided in the Rajasthan High Court on Thursday, more than 9 million people have registered on the government portal for permission to go home from Rajasthan. Until May 13, 31,197 workers, students and migrants have been sent home by 27 trains and 33,000 more will be sent by 22 trains by May 18, said the government in an affidavit in the court.
