"Humara Kaun Hai?": Migrant Workers Share Helplessness, Lack Of Support Amid Lockdown

In a recent video doing the rounds on social media, a BBC journalist, Salman Ravi, is seen offering his shoes to a migrant worker who was walking barefoot back to his native state.

The latter part of the video also shows how the helpless migrant workers are disappointed with the government. It also highlights how the lockdown has been fatal for some who died of starvation, diseases, or being run over by trains or trucks.

The journalist in the video spoke to some workers who had been walking from Ambala and reached Delhi Secretariat with little or no food or water.

He asked one of them who held a baby in his arms why he was walking barefoot, and he was told that the worker's slippers had broken. The journalist, in a kind gesture, then offered him his shoes.

The migrants had a broken cycle, meagre savings that the entire family was dependent on for six days.

"Hum bhaut pareshaan hai sir, bhaut pareshan. Ab kaise karenge, aise bachho ko leke. Yahan se bhaga dia. Har jagah se bhagadia. Kaise jayenge?" one of the workers broke into tears explaining their plight during the lockdown. The group of migrant workers included middle-age men, small children and women. One of them claimed that they were beaten up with sticks by the police and were not allowed to cross the state borders as well.

Talking about how the privileged are being taken care of, the worker said in the video: "Unhien mil raha hai na khaana. Shaanti se bethe hain. Ek phone kar dia, "haan ye chahye", unke liye ajayega. Humare liye kaun hai, bataiye?"

The journalist then followed a few of them and managed to arrange a shelter for them with the help of Faridabad police. The BBC report read that the Haryana government was going to arrange trains for them to reach back home. However, several workers were struggling to return home.

People have been appreciating Ravi and his selfless efforts to help the workers and their families.

Social media is flooded with similar heartbreaking visuals that show migrant workers walking barefoot, women carrying their children on their waist, mother dragging baby on a suitcase, among others. These videos raise questions on the arrangements made by the government for the welfare of these workers who have been stranded without food, wages or shelter since the lockdown was first imposed

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