A man in India beat travel restrictions by pretending to be an onion seller. INQUIRER.net stock photo
With 25,000 kilos of onions, one man in India found his way home amid a nationwide lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic.
A Mumbai airport worker, Prem Murti Pandey, wanted to go back to his village in northern India and beat travel restrictions by pretending to be an onion seller, the Press Trust of India reported yesterday, April 26.
Pandey reasoned to the news agency that he had a higher risk of contracting the virus in Mumbai. The state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital city, has over 8,000 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, the highest in the country.
Pandey’s village, located in the city of Allahabad, is over a thousand kilometers away from Mumbai, but there are currently no buses, trains or flights to get a ride.
The airport worker found a loophole: with the delivery of essential goods still permitted, he decided to get some produce and a truck as a means of travel.
He started with getting a mini-truck to take him 200 kilometers to the city of Pimpalgaon. He purchased 1,300 kilos of watermelons worth 10,000 rupees (P6,600) in the city and sent the truck back to Mumbai after getting a buyer.
Pandey then bought 25,520 kilos of onions in Pimpalgaon, which cost him 2.32 lakh rupees (about P154,000). He hired another truck for 77,500 rupees (nearly P51,600) and traveled on April 20 along with the onions for 1,200 kilometers.
When he arrived in Allahabad on April 23, Pandey tried to sell the onions at a market, but failed to find a buyer who could pay in cash. He then decided to unload the onions in his village.
Pandey reported to a police station on April 24, where he was examined by a medical team. He was asked to quarantine at home.
The government of India imposed the lockdown on March 25 and is set to end it on May 3. Niña V. Guno/JB
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