Indore Police Intercept 18 Migrant Labourers, on Their Way to UP, Crammed Inside Cement Mixer

Indore: In another incident of migrant labourers making desperate attempts to reach their homes amid the nationwide lockdown, the police in Madhya Pradesh's Indore on Saturday came across 18 workers travelling while hiding inside a cement concrete mixer.

The machine mounted on a truck was travelling from Maharashtra to Lucknow, said the police.

The vehicle carrying the mixer was stopped for routine checking when police personnel found as many as 18 migrant labourers hiding inside.

"During a routine check-up at Panth Piplai village, about 35 km from Indore, we stopped a truck laden with a cement-mixer on suspicion. After opening the lid, we found 18 people inside," said Traffic Police Sub-Inspector Amit Kumar Yadav.

He said the labourers had been trying to reach their native state of Uttar Pradesh from Maharashtra since they were jobless since the coronavirus lockdown started late in March.

Yadav said the workers had boarded the truck on Friday. "They were all sent to a shelter for medical examination. A bus is also being arranged to send them to UP," he said.

Indore Deputy Superintendent of Police Umakanth Chaudhari said the driver of the vehicle was arrested and the vehicle seized.

Several incidents of migrant workers, travelling to their homes hundreds of kilometres away on foot, via bicycle, or hiding in trains, have been reported.

Madhya Pradesh has also witnessed an influx of thousands of labourers at state borders on a daily basis.

Hundreds of labourers, who had gathered at the Jhabua-Gujarat border, on Saturday created a ruckus after being stopped by police at the MP border. Around 4,000 migrant labourers, on their way to UP, gathered at Datia in MP and blocked the Shivpuri National Highway.

Early on Saturday, a special train carrying 347 migrant labourers from Nasik in Maharashtra reached Bhopal and after being medically examined, the travellers were sent to their native places in special buses.