Less than a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed on the importance of social distancing to stop coronavirus in its tracks, all caution was thrown to the wind outside police stations in the IT corridor of Hyderabad. Hundreds of youngsters, mostly non-locals and working professionals in software firms, crowded, pushed and tried to shove their way inside police stations to get a permission pass to travel.
The Telangana police issued passes to people who wanted to travel back home provided they have their own transport and gave a window time of a day to move out of the city. At one point, the crowd became unmanageable as with passing time the queues surged and people got restless.
“I have been waiting for three hours now but I still could not meet the officer concerned. There is no one to control the crowd and everyone is trying to force their way in,” said Babjaan, who belongs to Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh.
There are close to 4-5 lakh direct employees in IT sector in and around Hyderabad. Many of these young employees stay in rented flats, PGs and hostels. In the last few days, the hostel managements have been forcing the inmates to vacate due to corona scare and also because they are unable to provide basic services like food and cleaning. With increasing distress calls to police, the department decided to allow a percentage of those who are desperate to leave the city and state.
The demand was high for the permission passes so much so that those who came out with multiple passes had to fight their way out as people requested them to accommodate them in return for money. A few even tried to snatch empty forms with seal on it. There were women who managed to get official permission but were clueless on how to get to their hometown.
Sakshi P., who belongs to Vizag, said, “Our office has asked me to work from home and my hostel warden literally threw me out because she is worried I might get infected and pass it on to her. There is no reason for me to stay here. I am glad I could manage the pass from the police. But, I do not know how to cross the state and reach Vizag as I don’t have a vehicle of my own. I am desperate to be at home but also worried about my safety. I can post a request on online groups but the idea of engaging with a stranger is scary.”
A day earlier, small groups of labourers and workers from different parts of Telangana working in Hyderabad were allowed to go back to their native villages within the state.
