New Delhi: From converting indoor sports stadiums into jails to converting entire sports cities into temporary shelters, the state governments of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are adopting different strategies to stop migrant labourers who had set out for their native villagers after the nationwide lockdown was announced with four hours’ notice on March 24.The lockdown left many labourers jobless and with little or no money for food or to pay their rent. Panicking, many of them set off on foot in large numbers for their hometowns and villages despite the absence of any public transportation to provide them with a ride back home.While Delhi and some states like Uttar Pradesh tried to facilitate their travel initially, the Centre later decided to impose the nationwide lockdown even more harshly to stop their journey forward altogether.As many as 22 migrant workers have died in their attempt to return home since the lockdown.Stadiums turned into jails for lockdown violatorsThe director-general of police of Haryana has written to all the senior police officers in the state that the interstate borders would remain sealed and the migrant labourers violating the lockdown would be picked up and sent back to the places they were coming from. If they have no homes, they would be lodged in temporary shelters. Those not following these directions would be arrested and put in stadiums that have been converted into temporary jails.“As of now, we are not setting up temporary jails in Haryana. It is just a provision in the long run. We are now convincing labourers (and migrants) to stay in relief camps,” the DGP, Manoj Yadava, was quoted as saying.Also read: COVID-19 Lockdown: 8 Year Old Dies of Hunger as Family Struggles to Make Ends MeetThe order from the DGP Haryana to all commissioners, district SSPs, DCPs, and other senior officers with regard to the “flow of migrant labour across Haryana” said that directions were being issued in view of the instructions received from the cabinet secretary, that the state government is duty-bound to prevent such large-scale movement of people in violation of lockdown guidelines.The DGP said that the inter-state borders had to be sealed and no public person travelling either by bus, truck, tractor trolley or on foot should be allowed to cross the interstate barriers. “They should be turned back without exception”.‘Buses to drop migrant labourers’Regarding what steps should be taken against the people commuting, the directions stated that those travelling by foot on highways and roads “should be picked up, placed in buses and left in localities from where they started”.He also stated that “big indoor stadiums or other similar facilities” be turned into “temporary jails” so that people who refuse to obey the lawful directions of district administration can be arrested and placed in custody for the offence committed by them under Disaster Management Act”.‘Jay walking’The order also specified that the state government had directed that “jay walking” on the roads with luggage or family members for travel was “completely prohibited”.It said, “rather than facilitating such movements, the district administration should discourage and penalise such behaviour”. Incidentally, thus far Haryana police have registered nearly 500 FIRs and arrested 688 people for violation of the lockdown guidelines.The order from the DGP also said the government has directed that “shelter camps should be established by the district administration for providing boarding and lodging facilities to those people, who do not have a home to go back to.”Also read: In Madhya Pradesh, Not All Migrant Labourers Walking Back Reach HomeJaypee Sports CityMeanwhile, with lakhs of people setting off for their homes in UP and Bihar, the Uttar Pradesh government has also stepped in to stop their onward journey. It has announced that it would take over the Jaypee Sports City on Yamuna Expressway in Noida to house the people who had left their homes in Delhi and its satellite townships to head for the native places.The UP government said it would provide food and shelter to all such migrant labourers and their family members. The district magistrate of Gautam Buddh Nagar district has issued an order for taking over the buildings and other resources in the township. The sports complex, where the relief camp would come up, is home to India’s only Formula-1 track.The decision to stop the labourers came after the Ministry of Home Affairs issued detailed instructions in this regard on Sunday. The instructions clearly called for preventing all such migrant workers from being allowed to travel to their villages or towns and called for their mandatory quarantine and screening for the novel coronavirus before they reached their homes.