With Coronavirus lockdown hitting their livelihood, thousands of migrant workers have been forced to walk their way back to their hometown & villages. This has been a nightmare for pregnant & new moms, who are struggling to keep themselves and their children safe.
As India enters into Lockdown-4, it has been extremely tough for migrant workers who had been working in the metro cities. With income drying up, they have been forced to walk back hundreds of kilometers to their hometown.
One such person is this incredible new mother, who hardly had things under control when she went into labor after walking miles on foot. After giving birth to a newborn in the remote area, Â the unidentified woman had to walk 160 kilometers (or 100 miles) with her newborn baby in tow.
According to CNN, the mother, her husband, and their four young children were traveling from Nashik, a city in Maharashtra, to Satna in the neighboring state of Madhya Pradesh.
During their journey, the young family who was completely on foot had no other choice but to stop when the mother went into labor. The husband assisted his wife and she gave birth to a baby girl on May 5th.
The authorities came to know about their incredible story when four days later, the family was stopped at a checkpoint in Madhya Pradesh.
While sharing their heart-touching story, Kavita Kanesh, an official at the checkpoint, mentioned how mother only rested for an hour or two before the family decided to keep moving.
“The family had no money, no means of transport, no one was giving them a lift,” she told CNN.
Though arrangements have been made for the mother and her newborn to be taken to a quarantine facility and receive medical treatment, it is heartbreaking how numerous migrant workers and their families have been adversely impacted by the lockdown.
Tens of thousands of workers are making their way back home. Some, the lucky ones, are on special trains organized by the government; while others are forced to depend on hired trucks or choose to simply walk back.
We hope that authorities are taking note of such challenges, and soon provide better alternatives to people like this mother. It is of utmost importance that we come forward as a society to help these vulnerable souls.
