This story is part of
Lockdown displaces lakhs of migrants
SHOW MORE 206 STORIES

Lockdown | Migrant workers in Surat come out on road demanding salaries

More than 1000 persons assembled on street demanding to return to their home States.

April 11, 2020 12:40 am | Updated December 03, 2021 06:39 am IST - AHMEDABAD

Migrant workers in Laskana area of Surat turned violent demanding wages and a return to their native places. More than a dozen vegetable carts and shops were vandalised.

Migrant workers in Laskana area of Surat turned violent demanding wages and a return to their native places. More than a dozen vegetable carts and shops were vandalised.

Hundreds of migrant workers in Gujarat’s Surat city on Friday late night came out on roads demanding salaries and asking to let them go back to their natives.

They took to torching vegetable carts and vandalising properties and shops along the road in Lasanaka area, a migrant hub in the city.

 

Most of them work in power looms textiles factories which are shut due to the countrywide lockdown as part of the government’s move to break the chain of coronavirus transmission in the country. According to sources, they are restless to go back to their natives in Odisha.

By the time police had arrived, more than 1000 people had gathered on the street shouting and complaining about food and salaries. Around 70 persons were detained for rioting and defying lockdown rules.

This is the second incident of migrants turning violent demanding they be allowed to return to their native places. Earlier, the police had booked 95 migrant workers for violence and rioting in which police vehicles were also damaged.

 

Surat is home to Gujarat's largest migrant population hailing from more than a dozen States and engaged in textiles, power looms, embroidery works, construction sites and diamond polishing and cutting factories.

As a result of the nationwide lockdown, factories have been shut rendering lakhs of people, mostly migrant workers and daily wage labourers, jobless.

In the absence of work and left without wages, they wished to go back to their native places instead of staying put in slums.

Top News Today

Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.