Migrant labourers were the backbone of the unorganised sector that looked after the everyday needs of the affluent Indian. When Covid-19 forced a lockdown across the country, they were suddenly unwanted. THE WEEK follows the abandoned as they try to get back home
PTI
Workers from Delhi head to their hometowns in Uttar Pradesh via the NH24 | PTI
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Thousands wait to board buses in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh | PTI
Narayan Mehran, a construction worker in Kochi, cries after his earnings and belongings were stolen while he slept under a bridge. He was desperate to catch the next train to Odisha but could not do so because of the lockdown \ Tony Dominic
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On return to Purulia, West Bengal, from Chennai, a man self-isolates on a banyan tree, as there is no separate room in his family’s shanty | PTI
Reuters
Families travel on an open trailer truck on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, Gujarat | Reuters
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Migrants reach out for food packets being distributed by volunteers at a bus stand in Patna, Bihar | PTI
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An elderly man being taken on a carrying pole in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh | PTI
A construction worker and and her child on their way out of Bengaluru, Karnataka | Bhanu Prakash Chandra