Amid nationwide lockdown because of coronavirus outbreak, several daily wagers are forced to leave for their native places. With no public transport available, they have no option other than to walk hundreds of kilometers to reach their hometown.
One such story is of 70-year-old Asai who owns a camel. The senior citizen used to earn his living by offering camel rides to kids in Punjab’s Ludhiana. After the lockdown was implemented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he rarely had any visitor.
With no earnings at all, he was forced to walk towards his native village – Gorakhpur. He embarked on the 1,110 km journey a week ago and has now reached Meerut.
According to Asai, his family members live in the Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh. The camel owner said he had managed to survive on the mercy of people who offered him food during the journey. He is confident about meeting his family members soon and pray that everything will be normal.
Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus positive cases has jumped to over 21,700. According to the Union Health Ministry, there are 16,689 are active cases as on Thursday. Over 680 people have succumbed to the infectious disease. In the last 24 hours, India reported 1,229 fresh cases with around 34 deaths. Maharashtra remained the worst-hit state in India with the total number of COVID-19 cases rising to 5,652.
On the global front, the coronavirus cases have crossed 2.5 million marks and around 1.8 lakh people have died till now.
