At least 300 migrant workers, who are on their way to Uttar Pradesh, had been sent back to Tamil Nadu by the Andhra police when they crossed the Andhra border and reached Sir City in Nellore district.
All the workers were forcibly dumped into a truck and taken to the Tamil Nadu border. According to a report in DT Next, they were all going to their home state Uttar Pradesh. Some were on foot while a few on bicycles.
Tamil Nadu is one of the worst COVID-19 affected states in India. So, the Andhra-Tamil Nadu is completely closed to avoid movement of vehicles and people and vehicles following the lockdown announced on March 25, 2020.
TN is the third most-affected state after Maharashtra and Gujarat with 11,224 cases, 639 fresh cases being reported on Sunday. And Chennai, the most affected district, alone contributed 482 cases yesterday. Chennai has so far reported 6,750 cases.
The incident happened at Sullurpet. On spotting the migrant workers, the police instructed them to get on the lorries despite their resistance and transported them to the Red Hills area in Tamil Nadu. A couple of volunteers who were supplying food to migrants also followed the truck till the Tamil Nadu border.
On the pretext of taking them to the revenue office at the Tada for transport registration, the police ferried them across the border.
“The AP Police promised to take us to Tada for some registration and also promised to arrange further transportation to UP and other destinations. But, they brought us back to where we started off,” Satish, a migrant worker from Kanpur, UP said.
“They had just dropped us on the road and drove away, ” Satish said adding,” this is the second time I being brought back, I have been walking and walking and really don’t know what to do.”