K. Mohan and his five friends were walking on the national highway 65 at Pothireddypally at the district headquarters town. All of them are from Kohir and surrounding villages near Zaheerabad and working at a function hall in Attapur in Hyderabad. They were on foot to their destination, about 40 km from here, unable to find transport.
Till Tuesday afternoon, they were in a relaxed mood as both Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar had repeatedly said there would be no lockdown in Telangana as it was of no use to arrest the spread of corona pandemic. All of a sudden, lockdown was announced by the government. Though they made efforts to start on Tuesday evening itself, their employer said money could be arranged only the next day. By the time they got money, it was too late to get a transport. By catching some vehicles they were able to reach Sangareddy. From here, they had to walk till they got their next vehicle.
The case of Naresh, Nitish and Hareesh is not much different. Natives of Odisha, they had been working in a restaurant in the district headquarters for the past few years. On Wednesday morning, they were walking towards the highway from the town as even auto-drivers were not stopping.
“For the time being, we are going to our restaurant head office located at Lingamapplly where they are having a bigger branch. Temporary accommodation is being provided there. We will go to our native villages from there if the lockdown is extended further,” Mr. Naresh, who was walking with friends carrying bags on the back, told The Hindu .
Lakshmi, in her 40s, ran for about half a kilometre to catch a bus while her husband walked fast and stopped the bus going to Narayanakhed at the old bus stand. The bus driver was kind enough to wait till she reached there.
