Other States

Migrants had no choice left but to walk home: Sainath

Priyanka.Kakodkar@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:09.05.2020

“This was a disaster waiting to happen. Lakhs of migrants were thrown into the deep end with the lockdown and expected to survive. The government has played with the lives of 100 million people,” said P Sainath, Magsaysay award winner and founder-editor of People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI). “The government said we will help you get home by train but demanded full payment for it. What choice did they have but to walk home?” he asked.

“Migrants have always been treated as invisible by the government. They are not enumerated properly so are denied welfare schemes,” said Divya Verma from Aajeevika Bureau that works with migrants.

“They are denied dignity and treated as a factor of production even though they make such a large contribution to the economy,” said Verma. “If the state had ensured food and money reached them, they would not have started walking,” said Bilal Khan of Ghar Banao Ghar Bachao Andolan.

Accident

‘We sat down on tracks as our legs ached, some dozed off’

Survivor Narrates How They Decided To Take A Break After Walking 35KM

P.Naveen@timesgroup.com

Bhopal: 09.05.2020

They had set off, the 20 of them, with a bundle of rotis and a small dabba of chutney. The food lay scattered amid the remains of the 16 migrants, mowed down by a goods train as they slept on the tracks, on Friday morning.

A survivor of the horror narrated how they decided to take a break as their bones were aching after walking for 35km along the railway lines. They squatted on the tracks near Karmad station and munched their spartan fare.

“Some fell asleep right there, on the tracks, although I warned them not to. I curled up a few steps away. I woke up to the sound of a train and ran towards my friends, screaming for them to wake up. But the train was louder and faster,” Dhirendra Singh, a resident of Mandla district of MP, told TOI over phone.

Dhirendra was among four who survived because they were not sleeping on the tracks. Asked why they decided to walk, he said: “We had applied for lockdown pass from Madhya Pradesh government, but it is still pending.”

He is from Mohad village in Mandla. All four survivors are from the same district. One of them is said to be in a critical condition.

Ten of the dead are from Jaisingh Nagar in Shahdol and six from Umaria.

Seven of the Shahdol victims are from the same family whose houses share walls in Antoli village. Two of them are brothers — Budhraj, 25, and Shivdayal Singh, 20, sons of Gajraj Singh. The siblings had last spoken with Gajraj on Thursday night, and told him that they had run out of money and options, so they decided to walk home. It’s nearly 1,000km from Jalna to Shahdol.

They had all set out together in January to work in steel and iron factories in Jalna. The entire village is in mourning. Many of those dead were the only earning members of their family.

TRAGEDY ON TRACKS: Rotis lie scattered at the site of the tragedy. Ten of the dead were from Shahdol, two of them brothers. They had last spoken to their father on Thursday and told him that they were walking home as they had run out of money and options. The entire village is in mourning

Court News

Look at evacuating pregnant nurses on priority from Saudi: SC to Centre

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:  09.05.2020

Listening to the cries of 250 nurses and doctors at various stages of pregnancy and complaining of lack of access to healthcare in Saudi Arabia, the Supreme Court on Friday told the Union government to consider bringing them back on priority in its ongoing evacuation of Indians stranded abroad.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for the petitioners in various stages of pregnancy, appealed to a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay K Kaul and B R Gavai for their early evacuation citing non-availability of pregnancy-related healthcare in Saudi Arabia because most hospitals had been converted to treat Covid-19 patients.

When solicitor general Tushar Mehta said the SOPs for the evacuation gave priority to bringing back pregnant women and that appropriate steps would be taken with regard to the petitioners, the bench said, “The government shall explore the question of further priority as per the specific cases of petitioners and shall take appropriate steps accordingly.”

The petitioners said they were Indian citizens working as nurses and doctors in various provinces of Saudi Arabia. “All the petitioners are pregnant, in their third trimester, who had been planning to return to India on various dates in the month of March and April for their delivery. However, due to closure of airports in India for flights from abroad, the flights for which they had booked tickets much earlier got cancelled. Because of which all the petitioners are stuck in Saudi Arabia and are living in vulnerable condition which is fatal for both the unborn child and the mother,” they said.

Full report on www.toi.in

A SIGH OF RELIEF: Athira from Kozhikode, who moved the Supreme Court to return from abroad, heads home from Karipur airport on Friday. The lockdown was announced when the IT firm employee was about to leave UAE for delivery

Court News

TO AVOID CROWDING

Liquor could be home delivered or sold indirectly, suggests SC

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi  09.05.2020

: Worried by the large number of people throwing social distancing norms to the wind and jostling at liquor vends as soon as they opened after a long break, the Supreme Court on Friday suggested that the Centre could look at possible home delivery or indirect sale of liquor to prevent crowding.

Arguing for PIL petitioner G Natarajan, advocate Sai Deepak told a bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan that a fresh ban on liquor should be enforced as the experience showed that people were ready to put their lives at risk by breaching social distancing norms.

He said long queues before liquor vends, where people often jostled with each other to maintain their position, put public health at risk given the contagious nature of Covid-19. He said liquor vends appeared few in number given the large number of people descending to purchase alcohol the moment stores were opened. He requested the court to issue a direction to the home ministry to issue a clarification on liquor sale guidelines.

The bench said it was not inclined to entertain the PIL but observed that to keep people safe from infecting each other, the government could consider indirect sale of liquor or home delivery.

Declare your medical history, tipplers told before buying booze

—Mohd Dilshad

Muzaffarnagar: Those visiting liquor shops in Muzaffarnagar were on Friday seen searching for pens instead, as they were told to fill a form giving details about their age, health condition and the amount of alcohol they were planning to take home.

In a rather unique initiative, the administration in this western UP district is seeking the details from liquor buyers to make sure that people are not hoarding the booze and no unhealthy person is getting it.

Technology

Is AC safe during Covid-19, among top Google searches in India

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi  09.05.2020

: Queries around Covid-19 have spiked around the world, with people taking to the internet to search for prevention tips, new guidelines around the lockdown and symptoms of the virus.

In India, the top question that users asked Google in April was: Will lockdown extend after May 3? According to the trends report released by the technology giant for the month, the other top questions included, “What is plasma therapy for coronavirus”, followed by “Is AC safe during coronavirus?” Placed fourth and fifth were “how many cases of coronavirus in India” and “what is the recovery time for the coronavirus disease?”

“Search interest for coronavirus reached its daily peak in March but, aggregated monthly, search interest grew +10% over April.” While coronavirus tips spiked by 5000%, coronavirus prevention saw a spike of 2300%.

Coronavirus was the third most searched topic in India during April (behind Film and Meaning — both consistently highly searched topics in India), the report stated, adding that the highest search interest over April came from Meghalaya, followed by Tripura and Goa. Users also searched extensively for symptoms of coronavirus.

Full report on www.toi.in

train info

‘It happened in few seconds. What was our fault? We just wanted to go home’

‘We Followed Railway Tracks To Avoid Being Caught By Cops’

Mohammed.Akhef@timesgroup.com

Aurangabad

: Sajjansingh Dhurve from Pondi in Junawani, of mandal Khajeri, cannot believe that his colleagues, with whom he was heading home, are no more.

Dhurve was among the 20 guest workers who had set off on foot from Jalna towards Aurangabad. Exhausted after walking nearly 40km, they decided to take a break. They were sleeping on the railway track near Satana village when a goods train ran them over. Sixteen of his colleagues died. Dhurve, who was asleep at a distance from the others, said he was lucky.

“We were exhausted after walking so many kilometres. We became thirsty and tired so decided to drink water and take a break on the tracks. As soon as we sat, most felt sleepy and dozed off while relaxing on the tracks,” he said.

He woke up to the honk of the goods train and the cries of his colleagues and managed to jump aside in the nick of time. He was physically bruised but the incident has scarred his mind.

“It all happened in a matter of few seconds. Only four of us could survive. We just wanted to go home. What was our fault,” said a shaken Dhurve.

The other three who escaped with minor injuries have been identified as Indralal Kamalsingh Dhurve of Povdi village in Ghogri, Mandla district; Virendrsingh Chainsingh Gaur of Maman, in Pali, Umriya district; and Shivamsingh Hiralal Gaur of Shahargad, in Shahi tehsil of Sahdol district; all in Madhya Pradesh.

Indralal told TOI that he survived only because he had been sleeping along the tracks. They had decided to follow the railway tracks to reach Bhusawal, 160 km from Jalna, to avoid getting caught by the police deployed on roads and highways.

“We started walking from Jalna on Thursday night and were carrying rotis and water bottles. We wanted to go to Bhusawal Junction after we learned that some trains carrying stranded guest workers were being released from there. We were planning to go there from Aurangabad,” said Virendrasingh.

Full report on www.toi.in

DISASTER: Police personnel along with officials at the where a goods train ran more than 16 guest workers who were sleeping on the tracks on Friday

16 guest workers who were killed thought no train was plying due to lockdown: Report

New Delhi: The railway safety watchdog in its report has said that the 16 guest workers who were killed on the tracks in Aurangabad were under the impression that no train was plying due to the lockdown. It has asked the railways to take abundant precaution to avoid any such incident in the future.

Soon after, the railways issued a caution for public which stated: “Be careful: Passenger trains service suspended, but goods trains are moving.” The ill-fated workers were run over by a goods train.

The railways has ordered a probe under Ram Kripal, commissioner of railway safety, South Central Circle for independent inquiry into the accident.

The role of patrolmen who are tasked with keeping trespassers away from tracks and also alert the nearest station about any incident is likely to be investigated. TNN

Other Districts

REGION DIGEST

09.05.2020

213 samples taken from Trichy markets test negative

All the 213 samples collected from vendors, loadmen and drivers in wholesale and retail vegetable markets in Trichy tested negative for Covid-19. After the Koyambedu vegetable market in Chennai became a hotspot, the Trichy Corporation collected 180 samples from G Corner wholesale vegetable market and 33 samples from Chathiram retail vegetable market. Five samples of loadmen were suspected to be Covid-19 positive. So retests were conducted, and the corporation on Friday confirmed that all 213 results were negative. Residents have asked the corporation to enhance surveillance at the markets, even as the civic body is planning to shift focus towards frontline workers like policemen, revenue department officials and sanitary workers.

Youth murdered by roommate after drunken brawl: A 21-year-old taxi driver was killed by his roommate over a drunken brawl at KRG Nagar near Ganapathy in Coimbatore early on Friday. The deceased, E Siva alias Sivakumar, 21 from Uthamapalayam in Theni district, was staying at a rented room at KRG Nagar near Ganapathy, along with S Manikandan, 23, a car mechanic from Velayuthampalayam in Karur district, and four others.

On Thursday night, they were drinking at their room when Sivakumar, who was in love, used a razor to inflict injuries on his hand upon remembering his girlfriend. Manikandan laughed at Siva and advised him against causing self-harm in the name of his girlfriend. However, arguments turned into a heady quarrel between the two, but the two were pacified by their roommates, following which all of them went to sleep. On Friday around 4 am, Manikandan woke up in a fit of rage and assaulted Siva using a dumbbell and left the place. Sivakumar was found dead in a pool of blood by his roommates, who informed police.

Two drunk men drown in Erode while bathing: Two people have drowned in separate incidents near Kodumudi in Erode district while they were bathing in a well and canal, respectively, while drunk. In the first incident, a 50-year-old man was found dead in a well in Velappampalayam village near Kodumudi on Thursday evening. He was B Sakthivel. In another incident, 22-year-old K Parthiban, of SNB Nagar in Kodumudi town, drowned while bathing in Pugaluran canal in an inebriated state with his friends on Thursday evening.

3 country-made bombs seized in Madurai: The Madurai police, on Friday, seized three country-made bombs from a house in Jai Nagar, Ponmeni and arrested a 29-year-old man, who has several cases pending against him. The SS Colony police, while looking for Sarathkumar N, who has several charges including criminal intimidation against him, raided the residence of his associate, Nitish Kumar, 23, in Ponmeni and seized three country-made bombs, explosive powder, nails and a long knife.