Kolkata cop escort, buses at station for 138 Jammu & Kashmir migrant workers

KOLKATA: The 13152 Jammu Tawi-Kolkata Express rolled into platform six of Kolkata station at 5.05pm on Monday. But compared to other days, the place looked busier, with camera persons, reporters and a number of policemen crowding around it. As soon as it came to a halt, the crowd rushed towards the end of the train where 138 labourers returning from Jammu & Kashmir had started to disembark.

These labourers, mostly from the Kushmandi area in Dakshin Dinajpur, had gone to Jammu & Kashmir to work. But the Kulgam massacre left them fearing for their lives. On Monday afternoon, the 138 labourers, including five from Assam, queued up at the Kolkata station to get on the buses the Bengal government had arranged for them to get back to their respective homes.
“I have been working at a plywood board manufacturing unit near Baramullah for the past six years and we have seen turmoil and tension in the Valley. But the fear was too great this time. Rumours were spread and people stopped going out. All we wanted was to get back home and stay with our families,” said Samidar Rahman. The 23-year-old from Kushmandi went to Jammu & Kashmir six years ago. “It was quite peaceful then. I was doing well and had started earning enough to support my family here. Things changed a few months ago but we thought this would pass,” Rahman said.
Rezaul Haque, 22, had been looking for work when a neighbor told him about vacancies at a plywood manufacturing company in the Valley. He joined the company seven months ago.
“Who could imagine that things would get so bad,” he said, adding, “A few days ago, a team of CRPF jawans asked us if we wanted to move back to Bengal. They took us to a camp where we halted for a night. The next day we boarded the train.”
“They were not feeling safe there and wanted to come back. The political situation in Jammu & Kashmir is volatile. We decided to help these people after chief minister Mamata Banerjee came to know about their condition. However, we could contact only these many people and aren’t sure if there are others from Bengal who want to come back too,” said Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim.
The labourers were handed food packets and water as they got off the train. Volunteers from the Disaster Management Group escorted them out and helped them on to five buses.
But, the returnees said, the future was unertain. “Maybe I will start doing odd jobs here. I earned good money there, but I don’t want to go back,” Rahman said.