Cab and bus operators in Haryana have been minting money by transporting migrant workers back to their hometowns on fake movement passes. Gurugram Deputy Commissioner Amit Khatri said multiple FIRs were registered in this connection and the people were pulled up.
In most of the cases, the cab and bus operators approach the workersand charge them heavily to facilitate their journeys back home. Not willing to be identified, a taxi operator, said fake movement passes with bar codes were made at cyber cafes and the stranded migrants were sent back to their homes.
He said these buses and taxis mostly operated at night in gross violation of the directions on the curfew timings from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and the social distancing norms were also not followed. Some of these travel agency owners also act as touts and claim to procure “genuine” passes from the authorities as well in return for money. He said the operators had made huge sums of money by illegally transporting the migrants. In some cases, they had also put out ads on social media seeking passengers. RTI activist P.P. Kapooralleged that the bus and cab operators in Panipat as well were facilitating the return of stranded workers back home in return for large sums of money. Mr. Kapoor recalled how 37 workers from West Bengal went to their hometowns, citing agricultural work.
₹3,700 per person
The movement pass was valid for a week and for a round trip. “Why would three dozen workers, including minors, go to West Bengal for agriculture for a week by paying huge sums of money? It is obvious that they wanted to return to their homes and procured the pass through a bus operator. The pass bears a bar code and is purportedly issued by Panipat DM,”said Mr. Kapoor.
One of the workers, Ahmad Raza, told Mr. Kapoor, that they tried to procure movement passes from the SDM office, but in no vain. They then contacted the bus operator and paid him ₹3,700 per person for the pass and the travel expenses.
In a similar case, a manager of a private hospital was arrested along with 16 people for allegedly facilitating transportation of migrants workers to Bihar in two ambulances in the guise of patients and their attendants violating the provisions of the lockdown due to COVID-19 outbreak in mid-April.
