'Exodus of autos and taxis will continue in phase four of lockdown'

In Khalilabad UP an exhausted yet smiling Ajay Prajapati 35 gets up from the charpoy After travelling 1700 km in his rickshaw Prajapatis back is sore and legs are swollen But he is home Prajapatis is one of the hundreds of families travelling home in autos and taxis in an unprecedented reverse migration A thousand kilometres away on the MumbaiNashik highway migrants poured out of a packed truck taking them to MP and UP One of the several travellers is Lalit Kumar a native of Varanasi who has paid R4000 for a place on the truckMy efforts bore fruit I managed to bring my family home Prajatapti told midday on TuesdayAjay Prajapati with his wife son and brotherOver 3000 autorickshaws and taxi drivers have crammed their families and belongings in the vehicles and left the city Union leaders say this is bound to continue as a fourth extension of the lockdown in Mumbai and nearby regions looks inevitablePrajapati was living in Chinchvati Nallasopara After more than 50 days of unemployment his patience ran out Six days ago my wife eightyearold son and my brother set out for Khalilabad district in UP No one knows how long the lockdown will last Now even if I die here I will have no regrets he saidLalit Kumar in pink shirt with his friends They were working in Valsad Gujarat in textile mills PicRanjeet JadhavPrajapati spent R7000 for the trip I dont know what I am going to do We dont own land I will have to work as farm labour or find a job I have to save up again to return to Mumbai when things get better he saidMahender Singh who was residing in Palghar journeyed for five days to reach Ghazipur Uttar Pradesh I started on May 7 with my wife daughterinlaw and grandson in the auto My son Pawan rode on a twowheeler for 1500 kilometres We would rest during the day and travel at night Mahendar said We saw thousands of migrants walking or driving back to their hometowns Its a really terrible situationMahendar and Pawan Singhs house in Ghazipur UPMahendar spent over R10000 on food and petrol I borrowed money from friends and also used savings from the bank Usually it is marriage season in our hometown during this time But due to Coronavirus everything has stopped We have some ancestral land I am considering cultivating it for the upcoming season or work as farm labour he saidEight in one autorickshawBaleshwar Yadav 54 is going to his native Hazaribagh in Jharkhand with eight others mdash including two women and three children mdash crammed in one autorickshawPawan travelled 1500 km on his twowheelerI have been driving an autorickshaw in Mumbai for 12 years But everything is closed now I spent two months digging into my savings but that too has run out I have no choice but to return to my village Yadav saidAsked about returning to Mumbai later he said Whether it is six months or a year I will have to return because I still have to pay instalments for the bank loan with which I bought this vehicle Till the situation normalises in Mumbai I will rely on agriculture and cattle rearingPatience has run outAL Quadros general secretary of Mumbai Taximens Union said More than 5000 rickshaw and taxi drivers have left the Mumbai Metropolitan Region MMR For the past 50 days their patience was being tested Now they have neither money nor patience Many taxi drivers are saying they will return once things get normal If the government allows autos and taxis to ply with precautions poor drivers will get some money to feed their familiesThere are around 45000 kaalipeeli cabs and five lakh autorickshaws in MMRMaharashtra police which is taking action against public vehicles plying amid the lockdown said During the first two phases of lockdown we enforced the rules very strictly But now people have lost patience Yesterday I stopped a family travelling in a taxi The driver literally fell on my feet requesting not to stop him People dont want to spend a single day in the city they want to go home We cops are human too Till what extent can we stop migrants said a senior police officerAn auto driver from Vakola left Mumbai last week to reach Uttar Pradesh yesterday We carried all documents with us and a medical certificate We were a group of 50 autos We are not stopped at any checkpoints In fact some cops were generous and offered food and water We dont think the lockdown will end before June so we decided to drive back he saidAccording to union leaders taxis and autos are leaving the city in groups of 20 to 50 or more and are heading to UP Bihar Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand Some taxis are going to Karnataka RTO officials said auto and taxi permit holders are allowed to travel to native places by getting online temporary permits which are valid for a few months06Approx no of days it is taking for families to reach homeRs 10kApprox money spent by families on petrol and food during the tripCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new 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