Among the stranded labourers, the biggest number is ofthose who left from neighbouring Maharashtra to go to theirhome states, officials said.
Most of these workers had taken the National HighwayNo.3 connecting Mumbai to Agra, but after entering MadhyaPradesh, they were stopped from proceeding further.
Majority of these stranded labourers are natives ofUttar Pradesh, a Madhya Pradesh administration official said.
Some of these labourers had left for their nativeplaces by somehow managing to get into four-wheelers, whilemany set off for home on motorcycles and bicycles, he said.
Many of them also marched on foot along with theirfamilies for hundreds of kilometres in the summer heat.
After they were stopped at Bijasan Ghat in Barwanidistrict, some of the angry migrant workers indulged instone-pelting and staged road blockades on the NationalHighway No.3 in last five days, a police official said.
This mountaineous area located along the Maharashtraborder is witnessing a huge gathering of migrant labourersevery day. According to eyewitnesses, hundreds of suchstranded migrants can be seen on the 170-km stretch fromBijasan Ghat to Indore.
Besides, hundreds of migrant workers are also strandedin Indore, the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh, and itsadjoining areas. They want to reach their homes at theearliest, a sub-divisional magistrate said.
These include a large number of labourers who workedin Indore and nearby Pithampur industrial area, where most ofthe factories have shut due to the coronavirus crisis. Theselabourers are currently lodged in shelter homes, he said.
The Ratlam division of the Western Railway has said ithas completed preparations to run special trains from Indorefor migrant workers. But, it has not received any formalrequest from the Madhya Pradesh government or the home statesof migrant labourers for running the trains.
"If a formal request is made by the state governmentsconcerned to the railways, we can ferry about 1,200 migrantsin every special train to their home state while following thephysical distancing norms in coaches," Ratlam rail division'ssenior public relations officer Jitendra Kumar Jayant said.
He said before running the Shramik special trains, itis necessary for two states to reach an agreement, especiallyon preparations for the departure and arrival of migrantworkers. HWP MASGK GK