Migrant workers clash with cops in Surat, stones thrown, tear gas fired

Appearing impatient to return to their native places, migrant workers pelted stones at police in Surat district of Gujarat on Monday, leaving nearly a dozen personnel injured, one of them an IPS officer, and also held protests elsewhere during the coronavirus-enforced lockdown, officials said.

Several labourers came out on a road in Rajkot demanding that they be sent back to their hometowns, while some migrant workers got their heads tonsured in an area of Surat after being unable to go back home.

Police personnel lobbed teargas shells and baton-charged agitated workers from Uttar Pradesh, who pelted stones on them near Vareli village on the outskirts of Surat, an official said.

Migrant workers, numbering more than 1,000, were demanding that arrangements be made to send them back to their native places during the coronavirus-enforced lockdown, which has rendered
them jobless, he said.

Authorities in Gujarat, one of the states worst hit by coronavirus, have started sending back migrant labourers to their respective home state.

SEE: Stones pelted at police by stranded migrant labourers in Gujarat

At least 10 policemen along with Inspector General (Surat Range), S Pandian Rajkumar, were injured in the stone pelting, he said, adding police have detained 80 people so far.

The labourers also damaged some vehicles parked on the Surat-Kadodara road, the official said.

They clashed with police and threw stones at them, following which security personnel lobbed teargas shells and used batons to disperse them, he said.

"We had asked these migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh to have patience as authorities are still in talks with the UP government for their journey back home.

"However, a mob of over 1,000 men suddenly came on roads and started throwing stones on police, injuring around 10 policemen. Even I received minor injuries on my arm," said Rajkumar.

"It seems they had planned the attack in advance. We have detained over 80 persons and brought the situation under control," said the IPS officer.

In the morning, around 50 labourers from Uttar Pradesh got their heads tonsured, saying the buses on which they left for their native state two days back after initial nod were forced to halt at Kosamba in the district for want of "valid permission" and sent back to Surat.

They said hey have been waiting endlessly for the administration to clear their journey back home.

A worker demanded that the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat co-ordinate their movement without delay, and claimed bus fare, which they arranged with much difficulty, has not been returned to them.

"Many of us sold off our watches and mobile phones to arrange for the bus fare. Now we are still at the same place, with no permission given to our buses to move.

"We are stranded here with no help from officials. We demand the governments of the two states to coordinate fast for our return back home," he said.

Till Sunday, eight trains carrying migrant workers had left for Uttar Pradesh and Odisha from Gujarat.

Four trains from Ahmedabad, carrying around 1,200 migrant labourers each, travelled to Uttar Pradesh and an equal number of trains from Surat left for Odisha.

In Rajkot, hundreds of migrant workers came out on road in Shapar-Veraval industrial area on the city outskirts, demanding that they be sent back home.

Police said they managed to persuade the workers to call off the protest, and brought the situation under control.

"We have reached out to migrants in residential localities and explained to them that they will be allowed to leave after getting a medical check-up done and completing other formalities," Rajkot Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone-1) Ravi Mohan Saini said.

Rajkot district collector Ramya Mohan said the administration has been given strict instruction to follow the government-prescribed guidelines while sending migrant workers back to their home states.

"We have get the names of migrant workers registered and sent them to the respective state for approval. Then we have to request the Railways for their transit.

"Based on our request, the Railways will make arrangements for trains only after the home state concerned gives permission for their return, Mohan said.

These procedures take time and migrant workers need to show patience in returning to their native places, the Rajkot collector said.

Some migrant workers also gathered outside the Rajkot collector's office to fill forms for returning home, saying they had no food and money to sustain their livelihood.

"The factory where I worked is closed, and I want to go back to my native place. They say we will have to arrange our our own vehicles to return to our native place, but we want the government to send us back in train," a worker said.