Autowallahs pack life into three wheels, flee Mumbai

INDORE: You could have easily mistaken the Indore stretch of Agra-Mumbai highway for a pre-lockdown Mumbai street on Sunday. Hundreds of kali-peeli autos -- with Maharashtra registration numbers – streamed past, all headed for UP and Bihar. Most unlikely to return.


Migrant autowallahs are fleeing Mumbai – lock, stock and family -- for the spartan familiarity of their villages. More than 8,000 of them have loaded their autorickshaws with whatever life they had in Mumbai, and set off on the 1,400-km journey.

TOI spoke to some of them who had stopped for a breather on Indore’s outskirts. “There was nothing to eat. For every small necessity, we had to pay. We were forced to beg, so we decided it was better to go home,” said

Vinod Giri

, a resident of

Bhadohi

in Uttar Pradesh, who knows the bylanes of Mumbai as well as he does his village lanes.

The exodus on three wheels may only get bigger. Over 2.5 lakh autorickshaws operate in Mumbai, nearly half of which are owned or operated by migrants from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Grounded in the lockdown, they quickly ran out of food and money and decided that was all they wanted to see of the Mumbai dream.

Giri, his wife and two kids set off from Saki Naka area of Mumbai on their auto-rickshaw four days ago. It will take another two days to reach home, he said.

Asked when he plans to return, he said: “Never. If Yogiji gives us jobs, why would we return to Mumbai? We will stay with our own people.”

That was the cue for others to speak up.

Rajesh Singh

said “We did not get any kind of support from the Maharashtra government. In fact, we were beaten up by police while trying to escape from Mumbai. Over 40,000 migrants from UP and Bihar are waiting for an opportunity to escape, on foot.”

Singh had left Mumbai with his two sons and a nephew – all of whom had gone to Mumbai in search of work.

The

autorickshaw

drivers allege that even the announcements of providing food and water to the needy in Maharashtra were propaganda. “Those belonging to the ruling party get the benefits. The common man is stranded,” claimed Singh.

They got more help and kindness on the road, they say.

Anand Pal

, an auto driver from Bhadohi (UP), said, “People on the roadside have helped us with food, water and fuel.”

Pal knows it will take another three days to reach home and that he and his family will spend 14 days in quarantine. “I don’t mind that after what we have been through. After 14 days, I will call my village chief and tell him that we have been tested and cleared. Now, let us stay home,” he said.

Pal plans to revive his farmland. “Earning from the land is better that begging in Mumbai,” he said.

The autowallahs’ grouse is echoed by Shashank Rao, leader of Autorickshaw Chalak Malak Sanghatana Sanyukt Kruti Samiti in Mumbai. “The Maharashtra government has done nothing to ease the plight of autorickshaw drivers in Mumbai. We distributed 15kg grocery packets to around 55,000 auto drivers who have lost their livelihood, but the numbers are huge. The government should give Rs 10,000 per month to each auto driver, but no action has been taken on our demand,” he told TOI.

He was worried that the fleeing auto drivers will face legal problems on the way. “We plan to hold massive agitations to make the government accept our demands. There seems to be no option. But that can be done after lockdown is over,” he said.