A caravan of misery is hurtling down India’s highways as the exodus of migrant workers from its Covid-scarred cities and industrial townships – either on foot or crammed into the backs of trucks – turns into a flood of desperation that brooks no stopping.
All along the 800km highway from Pune to Bhopal, thousands upon thousands of migrant workers, children in arms or stumbling along, are stretched out in unending lines. Almost every truck that passes by is a refuge on wheels. Exhausted people sleep on the roadside. Children scream in hunger. Mothers cast an anguished glance at vehicles that don’t stop.
 

A caravan of misery is hurtling down India’s highways as the exodus of migrant workers from its Covid-scarred cities and industrial townships – either on foot or crammed into the backs of trucks – turns into a flood of desperation that brooks no stopping.
All along the 800km highway from Pune to Bhopal, thousands upon thousands of migrant workers, children in arms or stumbling along, are stretched out in unending lines. Almost every truck that passes by is a refuge on wheels. Exhausted people sleep on the roadside. Children scream in hunger. Mothers cast an anguished glance at vehicles that don’t stop.