A severe spike in COVID-19 cases in Mumbai and persistent talk of a "complete lockdown" there to tackle it has, like last year, made the national highway number 3 skirting past Madhya Pradesh's commercial hub Indore a prime route for wary migrants returning home to states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The number of motorcycles, black-and-yellow mini trucks and autorickshaws, teeming with migrants, have been on the rise over the past few days on a bypass road connected to this route, popularly known as Mumbai-Agra road, eye witnesses said on Sunday.