Around 2,000 migrant construction workers employed at the construction site returned to their native States on Tuesday fearing retaliation by local people.
The labourers took whatever they could from their temporary shelters, located near the construction site, and left Yermarus in a hurry. The police escorted some families with women and children.
The migrant workers had allegedly attacked a group of local workers for rushing the accident victim to the hospital. The migrants thought it would have been easier for them to get a good compensation for the victim’s family had they kept the body at the site.
The situation got further tensed as thousands of local youths from Yermarus and the surrounding villages of Yeganur, Dandu, Chikkasugur, Odlur, and Kukanur gathered to retaliate against the migrant workers, particularly those from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.
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The migrant workers too were equipped with rods and stones to face the attack. However, the police managed to bring the situation under control by summoning additional forces. By evening over 1,000 police personnel, led by Superintendent of Police M.N. Nagaraj, encircled the workers at their colony to prevent further damage. Mr. Nagaraj announced that Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code had been imposed in the area and the migrant workers had been asked to leave for their native places. However, he later claimed that the workers had vacated voluntarily.