Harshita
BAREILLY: A team on sanitizing duty at the Bareilly bus stand did something that shocked everybody. They sprayed disinfectant on the migrant workers who were returning back to their home in Uttar Pradesh state after the announcement of 21 days' lockdown.
Reports state that that the migrants, who walked all the way from Delhi and Noida, were told to sit at the bus stand by officials who claimed that they will be getting food.
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"About 50 of us were seating and waiting for food and the bus at the satellite bus adda when some men in protective suits came and began spraying water on us. They said that they were from the sanitization team and were sanitizing us. The children began crying and women were also shocked," said a migrant named Mohd Afzal.
Sources say that they were sprayed with a diluted mixture of sodium hypochlorite. Sodium hypochlorite is the main component in laundry bleach and is also used as a disinfectant.
Afzal also said that while children complained of itchy eyes, women developed rashes. He further said, "The chemical had a strange smell and after this incident, most of us left Bareilly and decided to continue our journey on foot."
No officials from Bareilly or Lucknow is ready for any comment on the whole incident. Calls were made to the Bareilly district magistrate's office but went in vain.
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A junior official, however, said that since a Corona positive patient had been reported in the district on Sunday, a massive sanitization drive was undertaken.
