In a shocking incident, migrants who were returning to theirhomes in Uttar Pradesh were sprayed with a chemical on Sunday by a team onsanitising duty at the Bareilly bus stand.
According to reports, the migrants who had walked down fromNoida and Delhi, were told to sit at the bus stand by officials who said thatthey would be taken on buses and would be given food.
Mohd Afzal, one in the group, said, “About 50 of uswere seating and waiting for food and the bus at the satellite bus adda whensome men in protective suits came and began spraying water on us. They saidthat they were form the sanitization team and were sanitizing us. The childrenbegan crying and women were also shocked.”
According to sources, the sanitizing team sprayed the groupwith a diluted mixture of sodium hypochlorite.
Sodium Hypochlorite is the main ingredient in laundrybleach. It is used extensively as a bleaching agent in the textile, detergents,and paper and pulp industries. It is also used as a disinfectant.
Mohd Afzal said that after they were sprayed with water, thechildren complained of itching in their eyes while some women developed rashes.
“The chemical had a strange smell and after thisincident, most of us left Bareilly and decided to continue our journey onfoot,” he said. Mohd Afzal works as a courier boy in a company in Noidaand has returned to his home in Shahjahanpur.
None of the officials in Bareilly and Lucknow, however, wereready to comment on the incident.
Calls made to the Bareilly district magistrate’s office didnot elicit any response.
A junior official, however, said that since a Coronapositive patient had been reported in the district on Sunday, a massivesanitization drive was undertaken.
Officials in Lucknow also did not respond to queries on theincident.