Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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For Stranded India Migrants, Home Still Faraway

Anjana Pasricha

   NEW DELHI - Stranded in Mumbai without work and money since India
   imposed the world's biggest pandemic lockdown, Poonam Singh's spirits
   lifted when the government announced last week that it would lift
   restrictions on travel and allow migrant labor to travel back to their
   villages.

   Forgetting his struggle for food and despondency as he was stuck in a
   tiny room with three others for over six weeks, Singh swung into action
   to figure out how to secure a passage to his village in Rajasthan.

   Five days on, he is navigating a bureaucratic maze as he submits forms
   to police for permission to travel and scrambles to get a certificate
   from a doctor attesting he does not have symptoms of coronavirus.

   "I don't know whether there will be a train from Mumbai to my state. My
   family has borrowed money so that we can rent private transport, but I
   don't know whether we will be allowed to cross state borders," says a
   dispirited Singh.

   The wave of relief felt by tens of thousands of migrants last week when
   India eased the lockdown has quickly dissipated as they struggle to
   figure out how to make the journey home.

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