Pune:
More than 500 migrant workers from other states gathered in Warje area of Pune in Maharashtra on Monday, forcing the police to use mild force to disperse the crowd, an officer said.
He blamed the sudden gathering to the misunderstanding among workers that police had opened a counter to fill online forms which are mandatory to facilitate their return to home states.
“Workers generally gather at a specific location, ‘majur adda’, under the flyover in Warje area from where they get hired,” the Warje police station officer said.
Explaining the sequence of events, he said police had put up boards informing about online links available to fill forms for the convenience of labourers.
A police checkpost is located adjacent to the boards which was occupied by some police personnel on duty, he said.
“Some labourers staying in a shelter home thought that police have opened a counter under the flyover (to fill the forms) and started thronging the spot in afternoon,” the officer said.
He said at least 500 people gathered at the spot even as police personnel struggled to clear the confusion.
“We explained to them that it was a not a kiosk for filling forms but they were not ready to go away, which forced us to use mild force on them,” the officer said.
Police have now installed four computers at the shelter home and the work to fill the forms is going on, he said, adding that most of the workers hailed from Uttar Pradesh.
The Railways has been running special trains from Maharashtra and other states to Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha to ferry migrant workers, students and tourists who are stranded amidst the coronavirus-induced lockdown.
As per the directives of the Maharashtra government, such workers have to fill online forms and get medical fitness certificate before they can be allowed to go home through trains or private buses.
