Adding up the reports on the heart-wrenching plights of the stranded migrant workers, a pregnant woman migrant worker was forced to deliver her baby on the roadside while walking way back home with her husband from Nashik in Maharashtra to Satna in Madhya Pradesh.
After her delivery on the roadside, the woman rested for two hours and then continued with the walk for another 150 kilometre.
Migrant workers and lockdown woes
The migrant workers were bearing the brunt of the nation-wide lockdown since its commencement in March. Although the Centre has arranged the Shramik train services to ferry these stranded daily-wage earners, most of them seemingly could not afford the service.
"After she gave birth, we rested for two hours and then walked for at least 150km," says the woman's husband to the media.
The lady experienced labour pain on Tuesday, May 12 during the tiresome and arduous walk back home.
According to AK Ray, Block Medial Officer of Unchehara, Satna who spoke to the media that all the check-ups for the mother and child were done and both are now doing good. The administration at the border had arranged a bus service for them to Unchehara from where, they were taken to the hospital.
In another similar incident, a pregnant migrant woman from Chattisgarh was forced to deliver her baby on the road in Telangana's Medak district on May 5.
The pregnant woman with her husband was walking from Sangareddy district in Telangana her native village Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh on foot when she started experiencing labour pains.
Train services for migrant workers
Most of the states have agreed to provide the Shramik train services to the migrant workers.
Yet the recent goods train mishap in Maharashtra that took the lives of 16 migrant labourers from Madhya Pradesh who lay asleep on the railway track reiterates the terrible conditions of these people who cannot afford the services.
Most of these daily wage-earning workers have to opt foot walk to reach back home as they have run out of the money in hand. A majority of them were left unpaid of their pending salaries and were not even provided adequate food and water during the lockdown.
Another migrant labourer was also reported dead on board a Shramik train while returning his home in Uttar Pradesh.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's recent announcement of Rs 20 lakh crore package for the revival of the Indian economy may benefit the migrant workers too.
