1,000 migrants protesting in Mumbai to go home lathi-charged

Around 1,000 migrant labourers gathered at Nagpada in South Mumbai on Wednesday morning to press for their demand that they be sent back to their hometowns in northern parts of India immediately, an official said.

The police used force and lathi-charged the protesters, as the situation went out of control, the official said.

"Hundreds of stranded people, who wanted to go to their hometowns, gathered near hotel Rippon Palace, and demanded that a special train be arranged for them to go to their native places," he said.

Most of them had submitted their documents to police for verification and other formalities, he said.

"As they came onto the streets in the large numbers and as the situation was going out of control, the police used force to control them", he said.

A purported video of the police lathi-charging them was doing rounds in social media.

"As per the request made by the police, a train was arranged for those stranded migrants. The train was scheduled in the night from Mumbai Central to Uttar Pradesh," he said.

Workers gather at Kolhapur highway, demand passage home

Hundreds of migrant labourers gathered on Pune-Bengaluru Highway in Maharashtra's Kolhapur district on Thursday, demanding special trains to their hometowns in the northern states, police said.

Labourers from Shiroli MIDC, who were stranded since the COVID-19 lockdown was enforced, gathered on the highway to voice their demands, the official said.

As the crowd swelled in the area, the police were deployed to convince the protesting labourers to clear out and subsequently the district collector and police superintendent also reached the spot, he said.

The authorities were trying to convince the migrants that they will be allowed to return to their home states depending on the availability of trains, he added.

Labourers, who were predominantly from Uttar Pradesh, said they wished to head to their hometowns, as they had left their living quarters and did not have work or means to survive the lockdown, the official said.