37 migrant labourers trying to reach Palwal in truck intercepted, sent to shelter home

Delhi police intercepted a truck carrying 37 migrant labourers to Haryana's Palwal town during lockdown early Friday and sent them to a shelter home, officials said.

Around 1.30 am, police stopped a truck bearing a Haryana registration near Okhla T-point and found 37 labourers inside. The contractor told the police he was ferrying the labourers to Palwal Mandi from Okhla Mandi in Delhi for work.

The contractor is a resident of Lakhi Sarai district in Bihar and had been staying in Palwal, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) RP Meena.

The labourers were staying in Chhatarpur, he added.

All of them have been booked under IPC sections 188 (disobedience to order promulgated by a public servant), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and section 3 of the Epidemic Act.

Another seven migrant labourers trying to travel to their home district Vaishali in Bihar were intercepted by a police team in South Extension. They had hired an SUV of a Trilokpuri resident for Rs 37,000, said Atul Kumar Thakur, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South).

The vehicle was seized and the seven labourers were sent to a shelter home.

A case has been registered against the driver and he has been arrested, Thakur said.

The advance payment made to the driver has been returned, the DCP said.