Coronavirus lockdown: The centre has said lakhs of migrants have been sent home in trains
Spending his days under a tree outside a village in Uttar Pradesh's Etawah district, Sarvesh Kumar reminisces of the time when hundreds came to see him when his wedding procession reached the village. But now, on his return from Gujarat, he has been asked by the villagers to stay out.
Sarvesh is among many migrant workers returning home to Uttar Pradesh who had thought their inhuman ordeal of two months would finally be over on reaching home. But the fear of the coronavirus is such that in many parts of the state, the migrants are not being allowed to enter their villages. As a result, they are being asked to spend at least 14 days in quarantine in fields or under a tree.
"They (villagers) did not let me enter. They said 'Don't come in, stay out'. What could the in-laws do?" Sarvesh said.
Like Sarvesh, Dev Singh too was in for a nasty surprise when he returned home in Hardaspur village. He was once a highly-respected man in the village outside which he lies under a tree these days.
"I waited there for 50 days. But the condition of the country didn't improve. There are no facilities here. No one came to check on me. There is no access to food or anything," he said.
Lakhs of migrant workers and their families were left to fend for themselves after India went into a sudden shutdown in late March - two months after the coronavirus pandemic hit the country.
Without jobs or access to food, the migrants set out for their homes thousands of kilometres away, walking or taking cycles and trucks. Dozens have fallen sick or died on their journeys, either from fatigue or in accidents.
Temperatures have touched 50 degrees in parts of India, adding to the suffering of labourers and families on the move.
After over six weeks of horrific scenes of pregnant women and exhausted children trying to return home, the government started special trains for them.
The comfort of home, however, remains elusive for many. In Ballia district, Parashuram is quarantined in a field outside Durjanpur village. He had gone for an engagement ceremony in Panipat and was stranded because of the lockdown. The school where he was supposed to be quarantined reported a coronavirus case so he was not allowed into the village.
"There were a few cases in the school so I thought its better if I stay in the field. So I made the arrangements to stay here," he said.
On the other end of the state, in Deoria district, all entrances to the Mathiya Mafi village to have been sealed. Men with sticks guard the paths so that no one can sneak in.
"The barricades have been put up for the safety of villagers. Outsiders should not come in and people should not go outside either," village head Harikesh Yadav said.
Fifteen more people died of coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, while 179 fresh infections pushed the total number of COVID-19 cases in the state to 7,170, officials said. Like other states, Uttar Pradesh has seen a spike in cases since government started sending in migrants in trains and buses.