Coronavirus: Massive evacuation operation on as huge mass of migrants heads out of Delhi – Times of India, The Times of India

NEW DELHI / GHAZIABAD / LUCKNOW: At a time when India is in lockdown, a massive evacuation operation to take lakhs of people home began in the early hours of Saturday at Delhi’s borders with Ghaziabad and Noida and continues as you read this report.
At least 1, UP Roadways buses, backed up by 2, private buses, trucks, trolleys, tractors, goods carriers and any other vehicle that the authorities managed to bring out of the lockdown ban were deployed to clear a staggering pileup of people who gathered at the sealed borders, imploring to be allowed to pass. The Delhi government too deployed 728 DTC buses to ferry people from the border to Hapur in west UP.
Down the Barapulla, along Ring Road and DND, and on expressways and bylanes, as Delhi remained indoors, its deserted streets witnessed through Friday night and Saturday an unfolding humanitarian crisis – the desperate trek of thousands of migrant workers escaping the specter of starvation and economic uncertainty that the lockdown has brought upon them.

The scale of this exodus and the massive crowding at the borders and Anand Vihar ISBT, at a time when even one person walking up too close is triggering paranoia about the novel coronavirus, led to an urgent evacuation operation being ordered despite a central missive to keep people where they are and provide them food and shelter.
“The evacuation exercise is unprecedented given the magnitude of people who are thronging bus depots to get back home, and in the process, safety precautions have received a setback because it is humanly impossible to screen all of them, ”admitted Ghaziabad district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey. “But we have set up multiple thermal screening centers and are trying to get people screened, and all the buses that were pressed into service were thoroughly sanitized before boarding was allowed,” he added.
The boarding itself was chaotic, and though officials tried to maintain queues and keep people part, fears about left out led to people not only packing the buses but also the roofs. Some of them carried infants and young children. At one place, a group strained to find space inside a milk van.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal Made an appeal to all those leaving the city not to. “I request the people who are migrating and walking back to their home, please do not leave Delhi. I will make all arrangements for you. We will provide you food and shelter, please do not leave Delhi … If we don’t follow the lockdown, this disease will spread across India. Even villages will get affected, ”Kejriwal said. Two Delhi ministers, including deputy CM Manish Sisodia , were at the state borders to reassure people.
Many of those who got on the buses had masks on, but said they had a choice to make between starvation and the risk of infection. “What else can we do? There is no work, no money and no food left with us. How will I pay rent, buy food and survive? God knows for how long this crisis will continue. At least in our village in Bareilly, we have our own accommodation and food can be arranged through farming, ”said Harihar, who walked at least (km with friends, all of them engaged at a construction site in Delhi and now jobless.
Not all on the streets were construction laborers. But the common concern binding the all seemed to be of stalled daily wages as also uncertainties about how long the current situation will persist. There was also speculation about the disease itself and concerns that it may wipe out entire bastis, all fueling an instinct to reach homes in the hinterland.
The UP government blamed Delhi for the accumulation of people at the border. Mrityunjay Kumar, advisor to CM Yogi Adityanath, tweeted: “Lakhs of people are coming to UP from the Delhi border. The Delhi government is unable to stop them. DTC buses are dropping them off at the border. I appeal to Arvind Kejriwal to make suitable arrangements for them in Delhi so that they can remain there. UP CM Yogi Adityanath has appealed to people to stay where they are. Arrangement for their food and stay will be made. Officials from UP have been given directions on this. Due to the irresponsible attitude of some, do not help in the spread of the Corona pandemic. ”
The biggest crowds were seen At Anand Vihar ISBT, on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway near Ghazipur , DND, Ring Road (near Millennium Park), Nizamuddin Bridge and Chaudhary Charan Singh Marg. At some points when they were told buses would come, the queues extended over a kilometer.
Michael, who is from Aligarh in UP and works at a salon in Gurgaon, had walked all the way from the Kapashera border. “It took me six and a half hours to reach this place and I didn’t get any help in between, no water and no food. I tried getting inside DTC buses and showed my Aadhar card to staff, but I was told that these buses are meant for government staff only, ”he said.
Delhi cabinet minister Rajendra Pal Gautam himself went to Anand Vihar ISBT, requesting people to stay back in the city. In the video uploaded on minister’s official Twitter account, he is seen making an appeal. “My appeal to the people walking back to their villages is to return to their homes in Delhi. The Delhi government has ensured that each one of you has an adequate supply of food. We have arranged for food and other necessities in our night shelters as well as in various govt schools. There is no need to worry. ”
The buses, officials said, would take people as far as Madhya Pradesh and Bihar