Pictorial: Jobless in crisis, an army of Indian migrant workers heads home

Tens of thousands of impoverished migrant workers are on the move across India, walking on highways and railway tracks or riding in trucks, buses and crowded trains in blazing heat. Some are accompanied by pregnant wives and young children, braving threats from the coronavirus pandemic.

They say they have been forced to leave cities and towns where they had toiled for years building homes and roads after they were abandoned by their employers - casualties of a nationwide lockdown to stop the virus from spreading.

The government and charities have tried to set up shelters for them, but their numbers are simply overwhelming, leaving them little choice but to head on a perilous journey home.

"I don't know what the future holds for me," said Hari Ram, a 28-year-old mason who set out for his village in central India this week on foot, hoping to hitch a ride on the way. "One thing is certain: If I die, I will die in my home. I will never set foot in New Delhi again," he said.

Dasrath, 32, said "Indian politicians only come to us for votes during elections. We are facing a very difficult situation now - nobody is helping us."

In recent weeks, India has taken tentative steps toward a partial reopening of society, even as the number of coronavirus cases rises. While a few factories and businesses have resumed operations, the economic distress caused by the lockdown is immense.

Labourers who migrated to cities for work - often poorly paid with no job security - have been among the worst hit. The disappearance of their jobs, coupled with the fear of the virus, triggered a mass exodus of people on foot, the largest since India became independent and Pakistan was created.

That migration continues nearly two months on: Men, women and children have walked, bicycled, hitchhiked, pulled handcarts and stuffed their bodies into concrete mixers in a desperate bid to get home. Around 200 have already died en route, some hit by vehicles and others from sheer exhaustion.

A week ago, a train crashed into a group of tired workers who fell asleep on the tracks while walking back home in western Maharashtra state, killing 16. On Saturday, at least 23 labourers died in northern India when a truck they were traveling in smashed into a stationary truck on a highway.

The dangers of the journey mean that for migrants, it is "no longer a trade-off between lives and livelihoods but between lives and lives," said a report last month from researchers trying to alleviate the plight of stranded workers. Its latest report found that nearly half of the workers who contacted them had less than a day of food supplies left.

In late April, more than a month after the lockdown began, the government took its first steps to assist migrant workers who wanted to go home. It allowed buses and then special trains to transport stranded workers. But that exercise has been mired in confusion, and the supply of transportation is limited.

Half of India's population earns less than $3 a day. Over 90% of the workforce is employed in the informal sector, without access to significant savings or social protection benefits such as paid sick leave or insurance, according to the World Bank.

The migrant workers say they can return to farming and also take up jobs like building roads, water harvesting in drought-hit areas and construction of animal shelters under a government program that guarantees 100 days of employment a year in rural India for 200 rupees ($2.65) per person per day.

Their exodus is causing worries for India's top consumer goods companies, which fear a possible labour shortage as they resume production.

A migrant labourer getting emotional while talking to a relative over his mobile phone at Nizamuddin Bridge, in New Delhi.

A migrant child who was asleep on the suitcase seen in Agra.

A migrant labourer from Madhya Pradesh carries her child as they walk to their native places, in New Delhi.

Migrant families from Chattisgarh walk along the national highway to reach their native place, at Devanahalli near Bengaluru.

A migrant, travelling to Telangana, carries his luggage on his head as he walks along the Chennai-Kolkata National Expressway, in Chennai.

A migrant feeds her child while waiting to get medically screened before boarding a train to Uttar Pradesh, in Amritsar.

Migrant workers travel on a goods truck to reach their native place, in Bhubaneswar.

A child of a migrant worker drinks water as his mother holds him while waiting in a queue for transport to reach to a railway station to board a train to their home state of northern Uttar Pradesh, in Ahmedabad.

A man rides a tricycle along with his family to go to their native place in Lucknow.

Migrants ride a truck as they are going to their native place during the lockdown in Lucknow.

Migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh ride a modified vehicle to reach bus stations on their way to their native places, near Chandigarh.

Police baton charge during a clash between migrant workers and police during nationwide lockdown in Ahmedabad.

A migrant family walk towards their native place in UP, during the ongoing COVID-19 nationwide lockdown, in New Delhi.

Children of migrant workers rest as they wait to board buses to their home state of eastern Bihar, in Ghaziabad in the outskirts of New Delhi.

Migrants travel in a truck to their native places during the ongoing COVID-19 nationwide lockdown, in Patna.

Railway official provides water to migrants travelling by a train to their native places, at a railway station, in Jabalpur.

A migrant family rides a motor cart to reach their native place in Rajasthan, on National Highway 44 in Karnal district.

A migrant woman cries as her and others were stopped from crossing the border, in New Delhi.

A migrant carrying a child stands in a queue to board a bus for railway station, to travel to their native places, in Amritsar.

A policeman disperses migrant workers gathered outside a railway station intending to board a special service train without valid tickets to return back to their home towns, in Mumbai.

An elderly migrant waits to get medically screened before boarding a train to Uttar Pradesh during the nationwide 19 lockdown, in Amritsar.

Migrants flout social distancing norms as they wait to fill up forms at Dharavi police station to travel to their native places, in Mumbai.