Satish Aditya
Raxaul : Nearly 2,000 Indian migrants working in different cities and industrial hubs in Nepal trekked to the closed Customs Check-Post at Raxaul in East Champaran District in North Bihar on Indo-Nepal border, in the wee hours on March 30, 2020, and were trying to enter Raxaul to go to their villages in East Champaran, West Champaran, Gopalganj, Muzaffarpur, and Saran districts out
of fear of Covid-19 even as lockdown has been imposed on either side of the border in India and Nepal and both the country have sealed
the border since March 23, 2020.
East Champaran DM Shirshat Kapil Ashok rushed to Raxaul Customs Check-Post on March 30 early morning and after assessing the situation did not allow the migrants to enter the Indian side in view of the lockdown situation. Talking to this scribe, the DM said that he had talk with Counsulate General of Indian embassy, Birgunj in Nepal, Nitesh Kumar, on border regarding arrangements for relief and medical camp during quarantine at Maha Vanijya Dutawas, Birgunj. All the migrants were asked to go to relief camp at Birgunj where they would be provided all the facilities.
Mahesh Agrawal, President of Seema Jagaran Manch, Raxaul, talking to newsmen said that the relief camp was set up by Maha Vanijya Dutawas but no migrant went there and many of them slipped in through the porous border into East Champaran district. They walked down to Motihari, headquarters of East Champaran District, through village routes on way to their villages. He said that such relief camps should be opened at Raxaul instead.