WATCH: 1000s of migrants gather at Mumbai's Bandra railway station to catch train to Bihar
Hundreds of unregistered migrants thronged the Bandra terminus in Mumbai to catch a Shramik Express train to Bihar. Security agencies had a harrowing time trying to disperse the crowd.
Thousands of migrants once again gathered at Mumbai's Bandra railway station on Tuesday, hoping to board a Shramik Express Special train to Bihar, leading to chaos in the area.
The crowd gathered at the Bandra Terminus to catch a migrant special train going to Bihar's Purnia.
Scores of migrants, apart from those who had been authorised to travel in the train flooded the station. Videos from the scene show a sea of people at the Bandra terminus. In a video clip of Tuesday's incident that went viral on social media, a large number of migrants were seen carrying their luggage and running towards the gate of the Bandra Terminus.
Bandra terminus. Sir this is bad situation in lockdown. This is a vedio of just 5 minute back.@Dev_Fadnavis @OfficeofUT @MumbaiPolice @CPMumbaiPolice pic.twitter.com/eDl0bMvT11 — Ajay Shukla, (@ShuklaAjay10) May 19, 2020
The Western Railway and Mumbai Police had a harrowing time as hundreds of anxious migrants crowded outside the Bandra Terminus to catch a train home.
#WATCH Maharashtra: Huge crowd of migrant workers gathered outside the Bandra railway station in Mumbai earlier today to board a "Shramik special' train to Bihar. Only people who had registered themselves(about 1000) were allowed to board, rest were later dispersed by police. pic.twitter.com/XgxOQmSzEb — ANI (@ANI) May 19, 2020
As the situation started to get out of control, the Mumbai Police had to use a lathicharge to disperse the crowd at 10 am. Some people still came back to the area by evading the police.
1000s of #Migrants from Bihar who gathered at #BandraStation today to board Shramik train were lathicharged by police. They told me “We’re waiting for our chance since May 6, after doing registration. In absence of food & wages, all we want is family. Are we asking for too much?” pic.twitter.com/EqiCOptEw4— Tanushree Pandey (@TanushreePande) May 19, 2020
Only people who had registered themselves with the state authorities were allowed to board the train. It was only by the afternoon that those tickets were sent home.
"Today, a Shramik Special train was scheduled for Purnia from Bandra Terminus for which passengers registered with state authorities were to travel. But many people who were not registered and not called by state authorities gathered on the bridge and the road near station," said a Western Railways official.
"Bonafide passengers were checked and allowed to enter the station by the state machinery and the train left Bandra Terminus at about 12 pm with 1700 labourers and their families who were entitled to travel. Later, the crowd was cleared from the area by the city police," he added.
Maharashtra: The crowd that had gathered at Bandra railway station in Mumbai earlier today, to board a 'Shramik Special' train to Bihar, has been completely cleared now by the police. Only people who had registered themselves (about 1000) were allowed to board the train. pic.twitter.com/wl3Q6fiD7Q — ANI (@ANI) May 19, 2020
Due to the chaos at the station, many people with valid tickets could not board the train.
The incident comes over a month after hundreds of migrant workers had assembled near the Bandra station over their demand that arrangements be made for them to return to their native places in the wake of the coronavirus-enforced lockdown.