Delhi, migrant workers terrified by coronavirus and lack of work

To date, official data reports 1637 positive cases and 38 deaths. But experts predict up to 300 million infected people. Migrant day laborers left without work, without home, without food. Frederick D’Souza and his faithful offer money and food to the bricklayers in the slum near the parish. “A vast and unprecedented migration. I fear it will cause a tragedy, a human catastrophe. "

New Delhi (AsiaNews) - Tens of thousands of migrant workers are stranded in the capital without work, without a home, without food.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to close factories, shops, construction sites, restaurants and block transport to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, is inseminating panic.

To date, official data show 1,637 positive cases and 38 deaths. But the overcrowding of many cities and the lack of sufficient health facilities lead experts to fear for the worst.

In recent days, hundreds of millions of people left without jobs have sparked a huge exodus.

Frederick D’Souza, former director of Caritas India and today parish priest of the church of St. Alfonso in Vasant Kunj (South Delhi), tells AsiaNews about the tragedy of migrants and the way in which his parishioners try to help them: “Due to the lockdown, the migrants have lost their jobs and this terrifies them. There is terror because they have learned that many people have already died from the virus; there is terror because they don't know how long this will last and how they will survive or eat."

The priests of the parish and some volunteers go every day to visit the makeshift accommodation where migrants are amassed.

“Migrants - he continues - are day laborers and having lost their jobs and wages. We are trying to help them, first of all by encouraging them not to go back to their villages of origin, but to stay in the city, for their own safety. We priests and all parishioners distribute money to all of them, at least for the purchase of some food, especially for construction workers who live here in a slum. We meet all the people in the slum advising them not to migrate. They would like to go back to their villages, to be with their families, rather than unemployed and homeless here in Delhi."

The priest explains that tens of thousands of them have come from other cities and stop in Delhi hoping to be able to return to their villages with some means of luck. Many of them face hundreds of kilometers on foot.

"The government - explains Fr. Frederick - is distributing food to migrants, even to those who are passing through to go to other states. But everyone wonders: how long will the government feed us? There is a great sense of insecurity ".

The lockdown imposed on a nation of 1.3 billion people is almost total. Those who move on the street must have a permit. A permit is also required to help migrants. “When we go to find them we need a permit, which is sent to us via Whatsapp. On the other hand, the migrant slum is very close to the parish, you can reach it on foot."

Fr. Frederick talks about the generosity of his parishioners: “The parish takes care of the expenses for food for migrants, but also many of our faithful make it. We are not a wealthy parish, but some of our parishioners have stable jobs and are happy to make a contribution. Many of our friends abroad also send aid."

Fr. Souza was the director of Caritas India and has seen other migrations in the country in the past. “This - he says - is a migration dictated by fear; it is not like the others, dictated by need and necessary. Maybe it could have been avoided. It is a vast and unprecedented migration. I fear it will cause a tragedy, a human catastrophe. "

According to some experts, the vastness of the territory, the huge population and the pockets of extreme poverty could cause the infection of 300 million people.