In yet another case of rumour-mongering amid novel coronavirus pandemic, hundreds came on streets of Mangalore in hope of receiving Rs 2,000 by the government.
Around 400 to 500 labourers assembled in Kuloor in Mangalore following a rumour that the government was distributing money.
Around 12.30 pm on Tuesday, hundreds gathered waiting for a government official to turn up after they believed that they would receive Rs 2,000 cash from the government during the nationwide lockdown.
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The police then visited the spot and told the people it was fake news and no such event was happening.
A labourer, waiting to receive the amount, told police that she didn’t know who spread the news, but heard it from people around her. “I was asked to bring my Aadhar card and bank passbook and they will pay us money,” she said.
All the people assembled there were seen standing in close distance, flouting social distancing and other lockdown norms.
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Police said: “We are yet to verify how this rumour spread among labourers.”
Earlier on April 14, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of lockdown across the country, hundreds of migrants were seen flocking outside the railway station in Mumbai’s Bandra West. Even daily wage earners, numbering around 1,000, assembled at suburban Bandra (West) bus depot near the railway station, defying the lockdown orders.
A similar scene was witnessed in Mumbra, a suburb in the Thane district of Maharashtra, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Surat, where migrant started their journey on foot back to their home town.
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