BHUBANESWAR: One of the biggest human tragedies of coronavirus pandemic has been the heart-breaking stories of migrant workers stuck at various parts of the country. Sans work, income and food, hundreds continue to make their way back home walking. Even as Odisha brings back thousands of its own from other states, workers hailing from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Jharkhand are taking the long way back home.
In fact, the Government on Wednesday requested Collectors not to allow any migrant labourer groups to walk or cycle within their jurisdiction. “We may keep them in temporary health camps (TMCs) and facilitate their smooth passage to their state in vehicles,” it said. However, TMCs set up by the Government and ‘state guest’ tags are not holding them back. Through the desolate nights and in the scorching heat of the day, many are seen trudging back in groups. Some are lone rangers and others are with family members, including little kids. Their arduous journey is a common sight at National Highway 16.
“I worked in Angul and am heading back to Nadia district of West Bengal. There is no work, little food and no comfort,” says a 22-year-old worker seen near Bhadrak as the police personnel, guarding the route, hand them biscuit packets and water bottles.
Most of them worked in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Angul and Jajpur where industrial estates are located or construction work was underway. “We request them to avail the temporary camps but they are in no mood to stay back amidst the unprecedented crisis. Everyone wants to go back to their home, even if it means covering hundreds of miles on foot,” said a police officer of Bhadrak.
In Bhubaneswar, Dullal, Farijuddin, Inamul Sheik and Asarok Sheik - young masons staying in Kesura - were left with no work after the nationwide lockdown. Though the contractor provided them food twice a day and `200 a week, they were uncertain about resumption of construction work. All of 19, they were seen heading for their village in West Bengal’s Birbhum district with just one packet of biscuit, drinking water bottles and very little money in pockets.
The youths are willing to take the risk of walking over 550 km in the scorching heat to reach their villages or even stay at a quarantine facility in Odisha if the authorities intercept them but would prefer returning to their families at the earliest.A 14-member group from Sant Kabir Nagar district in Uttar Pradesh reached Bhubaneswar before the lockdown for work in a private hospital in the city. Paint-slingers, they were left with no money and food after the lockdown.
“The contractor turned a deaf ear to our problems. The authorities here and politicians in Uttar Pradesh’s Sant Kabir Nagar also did not provide us any help,” said Bijay Biswakarma, adding they were forced to take over 1,000 km long journey as it was better than dying without any food. They were lucky as on few occasions, people donated them food in the Capital.