New Delhi: As India announced its lockdown on March 24, the country witnessed a mass exodus of migrant workers, who left the city to go back to their homes in adjacent states. Ramnath, who works in Karol Bagh in a cloth factory and earns Rs 10,000 to Rs 8,000 monthly, was let off by his employer when the lockdown was announced. "I had Rs 1,000 in my pocket when I left with my three children and wife. We walked for days to reach my home in Madhubani Zilla in Bihar. On the outskirts of Delhi, we were offered food packets and water, in Uttar Pradesh, too, we were provided with biscuits and water. Once we reached Bihar border, not one person offered us even water. As part of health guidelines, on arrival Ramnath was quarantined in a government school in his village for 14 days. "They did not give us food or any medicine. I had to ask my relatives to bring us food." He added that a doctor visited once to ask if anyone had fever or cough during the quarantine period. When his son developed a mild fever, his relatives got him over-the-counter medicine. "I heard from my friends in Delhi that the government is giving food three times a day. Once this lockdown is lifted, I will go back. There is nothing here." Meanwhile, Sanjay who stitches denims for a living, is waiting for the lockdown to lift so that he and his family can go back to his ancestral house in Bihar. He would rather grow vegetables and eat simple food in his own house than live on rent. "I came o Delhi to earn but now I have nothing left. If they open up market, I will come back to work." For Sanjay and lakhs of migrant labourers, the pandemic is much more than a threat to their health-it endangers their very economic survival. "I pay rent of Rs 6,500, 1,000 for electricity and water bill and my monthly income is Rs 14,000." Migrant workers like Sanjay are victims of hoarding as they cannot afford to buy and refrigerate essentials in bulk. "Wheat used to be Rs 25 per kg and now it is Rs 30 per kg. Rice was sold for Rs 30 and now it is sold at Rs 50. I have 1,500 rupees left and a wife and four children to feed. If the government does not lift the ban, I will not be able to sustain." With the lockdown extended till May 3, the Millennium Post has learnt that migrant workers in various pockets of the Capital will go back to their respective native places on foot if the lockdown is extended once again.

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