Several workers in the city said they were forced to trudge farms, dumpyards and nullahs to reach Bijwasan tol…Read More
Gurgaon: Factory workers on foot and bicycles alleged that the curbs at Sirhaul and Kapashera borders were discriminatory. They claimed that while cars, trucks and bikes were allowed to enter the city, those on foot and bicycles were beaten up and pushed back by cops despite showing ID cards and convincing that they too work in services that have been allowed by the government.
Several workers said they were forced to trudge farms and waste dumpyards and nullahs to reach Bijwasan toll plaza. There, they said, they were pushed back by police. They then walked all the way till Kapashera border, where an even heavier police force was deployed. They were chased away from there as well. Then they reached Sirhaul border and were stopped again.
Tired and fatigued with miles of walking and wading through ankle-deep waste, these workers protested for a while. But, their protest was met with force and they finally went back home. “Daily women and men from our area leave around 4am so that we reach factories without running into cops and get beaten up by them. We have found out a way to trick these cops but on Friday there was heavy deployment at all the three routes that we usually take. And we were beaten up almost everywhere we went,” said Saurabh Kumar, a migrant from Bihar who stays near Kapashera and works at a Udyog Vihar factory.
Workers said the harassment “is denial of their right to dignity and work”, especially when the Union home ministry has issued relaxations for factory workers in lockdown 4.0. “Are the restrictions only for poor and underprivileged people like me? You don’t want us to leave our villages, not pay us even a day without work, and then beat us to reach workplaces that have been allowed to operate. They were allowing those in cars with their ACs switched on,” said Gama Prasad, a migrant worker from UP.
“If we can’t go to work and are deprived of income, then there’s no point living here. It’s better we starve to death in our villages,” Kumar said. Cops refuted the charges of discrimination. “Only those with valid passes and essential services were allowed to pass. Law is same for everyone” said a cop at Kapashera.
