NE NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, MAY 18
Nearly 100 migrant workers gathered on a busy road connecting IIM Ahmedabad with Vastrapur area here on Monday and pelted stones at police and people passing by during the lockdown, an official said.
A local claimed the migrant workers were demanding that they are allowed to go back to their native places.
Police lobbed teargas shells to disperse the rioters and detained several suspects, an official from the city police control room said.
Nearly 100 migrants suddenly came on the road in the morning and engaged in indiscriminate stone-pelting, he said.
They hurled stones at the police and people passing by in vehicles, he said.
On getting information about the incident, a large police force was rushed to the spot.
The police lobbed teargas shells to disperse the mob and brought the situation under control, the official said.
Joint Commissioner of Police Amit Vishwakarma said migrant workers from different states have been asking local authorities for many days that they should be sent back to their native places at the earliest.
“Around 400 to 500 migrant workers live at the labour colony and work at a nearby construction site. They are demanding since long that they be sent back. When some of them gathered on road on Monday over the same demand, local police asked them to go back and have patience,” he said.
“We told them that the administration is also working hard to resolve the issue. However, they suddenly got angry and engaged in stone-pelting. It was a sudden outburst…not directed at police,” he said.
Following indiscriminate stone-pelting by the migrant workers, city police conducted a combing operation at a labour colony near the GMDC ground and detained some 100 people, Vastrapur police inspector M M Jadeja said.
“The situation has been brought under control. Two teargas shells were also lobbed to disperse the mob,” he said.
Nearly 100 suspects were detained after the incident, he said.
An electronic media journalist covering the incident also received injuries, sources said
Head constable succumbs to novel corona
A head constable in Ahmedabad succumbed to novel coronavirus on Monday, becoming Gujarat’s first corona warrior to die of the disease.
Head Constable Bharatji Somji was admitted to the Ahmedabad Civil hospital after he tested positive. He was serving in Krishna Nagar police station, Ahmedabad.
The Gujarat government has announced a compensation of Rs 25 lakh to all government employees who die of coronavirus while performing duties during the lockdown.
