Outraged migrant labourers pelted stones at police personnel in Mandi Gobindgarh after a Bihar-bound train was cancelled on Monday morning.
Migrants were provided temporary shelter at Khalsa Senior Secondary School in Mandi Gobindgarh. After learning about the train cancellation, more than a hundred migrants had gathered in the ground of the school.
The migrants blocked the main Jalandhar-Panipat national highway and protested. Moreover, the migrants pelted stones at the police.
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To take the situation under control, the police had to use a mild lathicharge. Senior civil and police officials rushed to the spot to handle the migrants.
“We are coordinating with railways to arrange another train for the labourers so that they can return at the earliest,” Sub-divisional magistrate Anand Sagar Sharma said.
The coronavirus outbreak has left lakhs of migrants stranded on the roads. On May 21, more than 400 workers in Nagpur had reached the police station hoping that they would be taken to board the train to Bihar. However, they were told that the train was cancelled and the next one was scheduled on Thursday.
This ended their patience and the workers stood protesting in front of the police station as some of them also threatened to commit suicide.
