Migrants attack cops in Bengaluru over rumour of quarantine camp

TNN | Updated: May 5, 2020, 06:40 IST

Hundreds of migrants workers at Kalasipalya are ferried by BMTC bus to Malur Railway station on Covid 19-lockdown 3 in Bengaluru on Monday.

Hundreds of migrants workers at Kalasipalya are ferried by BMTC bus to Malur Railway station on Covid 19-lockd...Read More

BENGALURU: Angered over the delay in sending them to home states, hundreds of migrant workers took to violence on Monday evening following rumours that the camp, near Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) on Tumakuru Road where they had gathered, was a quarantine facility. Four cops, including a police inspector, were attacked and a few police vehicles damaged.
The incident took place around 6.30pm and police resorted to lathicharge to rein in the restless workers, who had indulged in stone-throwing. The inspector suffered injuries on the head and the cops received minor injuries. All four are out of danger, a source said.
About 5,000 migrant workers had been brought from Majestic and Yeshwanthpur railway stations, where they had assembled with the hope that they would be sent back to their states by special trains. A majority of the labourers had walked along with their family members from industrial areas in Jigani, Hoskote and Anekal industrial areas before being shifted to BIEC.
On Monday when new batches of migrant workers arrived, they were told by mischief-mongers that they had walked into a quarantine and would have to stay there for a month. Following this, many started walking back towards the city.
The jurisdictional police intercepted the workers and brought them back to BIEC. "That is when a few workers protested that they had not been sent despite having arrived earlier..." a police source said.
Govt tricking us to stay back: Migrants
Workers from Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh alleged the state government was tricking them into staying back in the city and was not interested in sending them home and demanded more trains. They started attacking the cops who were pacifying them,” a police source said. Additional forces were rushed and the situation was brought under control.
Chief minister BS Yediyurappa held a late-evening meeting with revenue minister R Ashoka and Covid-19 task force spokesperson and minister S Suresh Kumar to discuss the situation. Ashoka attributed it to miscommunication between the government and migrants. “What the workers don’t understand is that their own states are not ready to accept them. Once they send us their acceptance letters, we will send them. At present, the government is trying all possible measures to convince them to stay back and ensure there is no loss of livelihood,” said Ashoka.