It is around 3 p.m. Carrying luggage on their backs and wearing black masks, seven men, visibly fatigued, are signalled to stop by a policeman who hurriedly jumps out of his vehicle at Rajiv Chowk on the Delhi-Gurugram highway. The officer makes a few inquiries before letting them off, asking them to walk in twos and threes and maintain a proper gap.
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The men used to work as loaders at an automotive company in Bilaspur village in Manesar. But the nationwide lockdown to check the spread of the novel coronavirus, announced on March 24, has suddenly left them without jobs and little money to survive. Running out of money and with no means of support, the men, mostly from Shahjahanpur district in Uttar Pradesh, decided to walk close to 400 km back to their villages. When this reporter met them, they had been walking for six hours.
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“Yeh hartal abhi kaafi din chalne wali hai. Hamare pass khane ka bhi paisa nahi bacha hai (This lockdown is going to last for quit