Exodus of immigrant workers from Gujarat cities amid lockdown rumours as COVID-19 cases spike

After the Gujarat High Court pulled up the BJP government in the state for mishandling of COVID-19 crisis, the imposition of night curfew in 20 cities has created a scare among immigrant workers, leading to an exodus from Surat, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar.

There are over 2,50,000 immigrant workers from UP, Bihar, MP, Odisha and Telangana employed mainly in the textiles units in Surat, over 100,000 artisans from West Bengal in the jewellery units in Rajkot, 50,000 labourers engaged in the ship-breaking industry at Alang and over 20,000 workers in the industrial units in the brass, steel and aluminium auto parts-making ancillary units, most of them hailing from other states.

The condition of daily wage workers, mostly men from outside Gujarat who have left behind their families back in their home states after last year’s tormenting experience of trekking barefoot or on bicycles under the scorching summer heat, is most pathetic. The police is imposing a fine of Rs 1,000 on anyone seen without wearing a mask, which a daily wage earner finds difficult to pay.

The fear of re-imposition of curfew has spread panic among immigrant workers from other states who are still haunted by the tormenting memory of their long treks last year.

Tour operators in Surat, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Rajkot have started bus services for the immigrant workers to go to various destinations of UP, Bihar, MP and Rajasthan.

With over 3,54,000 COVID-19 infection cases, of them over 30,000 active ones, and the deaths of 4,855 people, Gujarat has witnessed a spike since mid-March, in just about a fortnight after the civic body and panchayat general elections were conducted.

COVID-19 designated hospitals, both government and private, have no beds for patients, and they are seen waiting outside hospitals.

Many patients are dying for want of oxygen and Remdisivir injections, both of which are in short supply and being sold in the black market. While the price of oxygen cylinder has been hiked by 60 per cent by the manufacturers, a vial of Remdisivir is being sold at anything between Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000 depending on how urgently the patient wants it.

Taking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s advice to convert ‘adversity into opportunity’ in a pervert sense, BJP’s Gujarat unit president C R Patil announced distribution of Remdisivir injections free from the party office. While the injection has vanished from medical stores, Patil managed to procure as many as 5,000 vials. “I got them (injections) from friends,” he told journalists.

The latest surge in the COVID-19 pandemic began in mid-March, a month after elections to the municipal corporations of six cities, 81 municipalities, 31 district panchayats and 231 taluka panchayats were concluded.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, headed by state unit president C R Patil had held large election rallies all across the state. Very few in these rallies wore protective masks and no social distancing was followed. Patil himself too had got infected and tested positive for COVID-19.