Relief, hope and anticipation to meet family members after days of being locked down in the national Capital gripped over 1,000 migrant workers on Thursday as they boarded a special train to Madhya Pradesh.
The workers, who were mostly staying at government shelters since the lockdown began, were brought to the New Delhi railway station in special DTC buses followed by police vehicles.
Eighteen-year-old Sharman Kumar, a resident of M.P.’s Chattarpur district, said he had come to Delhi in February to earn a living.
“I came to live with my brother who has been working here for a long time. My mother and two sisters are back home. Soon after my arrival the lockdown began and we were out of work. Not only could I not send any money home, I could not even go back and be with my family. I am glad that finally I am getting to return home,” he said.
Avdesh, 23, a daily wage earner who had arrived in the Capital on March 20, said, “We got our names registered as we wanted to return to our villages, but we had lost hope as every second day someone would come and take down our details and then disappear. Finally, today [Thursday] morning, we were told that we can go home.”
While the train departed around 8 p.m., by 6 in the evening approximately 60 buses had reached the railway station. North Delhi District Magistrate Deepak Shinde said 81 migrant workers from the district were allowed to go after screening. They were given food, water and tickets free of cost.
However, some workers like Rajendra Prasad Misra and Shyam, residents of M.P.’s Khargone district, said they were being sent back against their wishes. “We were told that if we continue to stay here, we might die due to the pandemic. We have been living in this city for over two decades now. I could not even collect my bank documents as they are with someone else. We told the authorities that we do not wish to return as we have no family there, but they told us that everyone is being sent back so we have to go,” said Mr. Shyam, who used to work in restaurants.
As the buses carrying the migrant workers whizzed past, a group of rickshaw pullers looked at them in despair, some lamenting and a few others waving at the buses and saying, “ Aazadi mil gayi tumhe, aab ghar jao (You are free, now go home).”
“We live behind the Minto Road Kali Mandir and have been here for many years now. This lockdown has left us with no money. Our families are back home and we want to be with them. We even went to the railway station asking for forms, but we were turned away. What should we do now?” asked Mohammad Ibrahim and Mohan Pandit, both residents of Muzzafarpur.
Even as several migrant workers carrying their belongings boarded the Shramik Special train to Madhya Pradesh on Thursday, over 40 labourers from various districts of the State resumed work at a construction site here in south Delhi’s Sadiq Nagar area, officials said.
A total of 48 people, including six women and four children, from Madhya Pradesh were stranded at the construction site at Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya due to lockdown, they said.
Police help migrants
The police said the contractor was not taking care of their food and other necessities. After the police was informed, they reached out to the workers and have been taking care of their needs since the lockdown.
They are being provided dry ration, other essentail daily-use items. They are also being supplied with cooked food every afternoon and evening.
“When construction activities were allowed by the government a few days ago, the labourers were not inclined to return to work and wanted to be sent home. But today, all the labourers resumed work after rigorous persuasion,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Atul Kumar Thakur.
(With inputs from Saurabh Trivedi)
