Unable to take the hardships of lockdown any further and with their entire savings gone, seven girls decided to walk from Samastipur in Bihar to their hometown, Ranchi, in neighbouring Jharkhand. Having walked on foot for almost two days, they reached Patna covering a distance of about 130 km.
At Zero Mile in the Bihar capital, the girls sat for a respite from the scorching heat and took stock of their swollen feet. But the battle wasn’t over yet. They still had to travel more than 350 km to reach their home in Ranchi. Talking to The Daily Guardian, these girls explained how they walked during the early hours and evenings when the sun was not directly overhead.
They were carrying some dry food with them and occasionally sat down under the shade of a flyover or a tree for rest. The journey ahead might be perilous for these girls as beyond Nawada there is a long stretch of forest and serpentine roads through the hills which, due to absence of vehicular movements especially at night, might be fraught with dangers.
They were hopeful that in the next 4-5 days they might be able to reach their hometown. One of the girls — who identified herself as Babita Kumari and worked in Samastipur as a direct selling agent along with six of her friends, said: “We want to go back to our home in Ranchi. As there are no modes of transportation, we have decided to walk our way to Ranchi.
We are left with no money as we are not able to sell anything during the lockdown. We don’t have anything left with us.” On being asked whether she approached the district administration for help, she said that there were others who approached the DM but were turned down.
