After migrants walking in the scorching heat, the highway is now populated by hundreds of trucks, tempos and autorickshaws packed with people without travel passes or medical certificates. While police say that all rules for interstate travel remain, personnel on the ground have stopped checking for relevant documents and are letting trucks pass unhindered.

mid-day visited the Mumbai-Nashik-Agra highway on Wednesday and saw people travelling on top of lorries. From Navi Mumbai to Kasara Ghat, there were few police barricades. Migrants from Mumbai, Bhiwandi, Thane and Navi Mumbai were going to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.