Railway officials also insisted that trains were the safest way for migrant workers to get home.
Railway Ministry spokesperson D.J. “India has done a remarkable job in spreading the disease compared to some of the world’s most advanced countries,” Narayan said.
In all, the government organized 4,621 labor specials, moving more than 6 million people. As they moved out of the cities of India, which were becoming hot spots, many returnees carried the virus with them, even though they kept coming. Surat, a Surat industrial hub, saw more than half a million workers boarding trains.
“It felt like doomsday,” said ticket collector Ram Singhas. “When you saw how many people were outside, it seemed like the world was coming to an end.”
A lockdown unlocks an exit
On March 24, at 8 pm, Shri Modi hit the lockdown switch. In a televised address, he ordered the entire country to stay indoors for three weeks – in four hours.
The decision was made by pure Modi: suddenly, dramatically and firmly, he abruptly destroyed 100% of India’s currency bill in 2016. It was a bolt-the-blue move that he said was necessary to fight corruption, but financially devastating. Proved.
Prafulla and Ravindra Behra completed the fare, dal and potatoes, their usual fare dinner. They slept from floor to wall on the floor with half a dozen other laborers in a cluttered, bare room in the industrial area of Surat. Shortly after Shri Modi’s address, his calls started coming.
“Everyone was thinking the same thing: this will end very soon and somehow we will spend the days.”
