Migrants' gathering in Bandra caused by rumour: Pawar

Mumbai: NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday termed as unfortunate the gathering of migrant workers outside the Bandra railway station and stressed such incidents should not recur in the face of the COVID-19 crisis.

He said people gathered outside the station after somebody circulated the rumour that trains services will resume, adding precautions need to be taken to ensure that such confusing messages are checked.

The former Union minister also urged political parties to desist from scoring points over each other during the ongoing crisis and asked them to defeat COVID-19 collectively.

An unfortunate incident took place outside the Bandra station yesterday. Somebody spread the rumour that train services will resume and local people gathered there. Unfortunately, social distancing was not observed, Pawar said in a Facebook address.

"I would also request political parties that we may fight politically but this is not the time to score over each other. It is not the time to think who is in power at the Centre and in the state. We should take steps to defeat the coronavirus, he said.

Ignoring lockdown norms, over 1,000 migrant workers who earn daily wages gathered here on Tuesday demanding transport arrangements to go back to their native places, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended the coronavirus-enforced curbs till May 3.

The gathering in suburban Bandra, in violation of lockdown norms, created a potential law and order situation for an overstretched police force and the men in uniform resorted to mild force to scatter the crowd.