Hundreds of people remained suspended between hope and despair at Zero Point on the Yamuna Expressway on Sunday as desperate migrant workers — forced by a sudden and indefinite loss of employment due to the nationwide lockdown — tried to return home to villages in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Haryana.
Zero Point is an unofficially-designated location on the Yamuna Expressway, which links New Delhi with Agra, where inter-State buses usually pick up passengers.
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On Sunday, however, only a handful of the several hundred waiting people were fortunate enough to get on a vehicle, most climbing onto the already packed roofs of private buses or squeezing into overflowing minivans.
Many had no choice but to wait endlessly.
Given the near hopeless situation, some decided to return to the rented accommodations they had walked several kilometres and hours, to leave.
Coronavirus lockdown | At ‘Zero Point’ on Yamuna Expressway, flight from hunger beats fight against virus
“I left my rented accommodation at Alpha I with my brother around 8 a.m. We made several stops on the way, making enquiries, waiting for a bus — any bus — to go back home to Allahabad (Praya