The Secunderabad Railway Station has once again become a haven for migrant workers trying to return home.
Young migrant workers, some with their families occupy every available space on the open ground in front of the station near Platform 1.
“There is a night curfew in Hyderabad. They may declare lockdown like last year. I want to go back before that happens,” said Rocky Singh, who drives a cab in the city and was waiting for the Raxaul Express that departs at 11.35 p.m. on Thursday. He was going to his hometown of Samastipur. There were dozens of other men sitting with their bags who did not have reservations but were expecting their friends to work out a solution. Entry into the railway station is restricted with the ticketing staff checking the tickets of passengers entering the platform.
The State government is enforcing a night curfew in the State between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. till May 1 to check the spread of COVID-19 virus.
Other north and east bound trains, too are packed. In the Howrah-bound Falaknuma Express, ticketing staff shooed away a large number of men who tried to board the second seating coach without valid tickets. “They are entering the platform by buying platform ticket and trying to board the trains. I sent them away from the coach near the engine and they tried to get into the coach near the guard’s cabin,” said a hassled SC Railway staffer.
“The work has slowed down and our contractor said there is no work. I am going back to Sitamarhi. I don’t want to be trapped if they announce a lockdown,” said Sunil Kumar Rawat, a battery technician who used to work at Medchal.
As the evening wore on, the number of people near the parking area swelled to a teeming mass. “We don’t have a reservation. Most of us here don’t have. But my friend has gone inside to find out how we can travel. I just need to get into the train,” said another migrant worker who had been waiting for the 11.35 p.m. train since morning.
