BHUBANESWAR: It was poverty and joblessness that had driven the 29-year-old labourer from West Bengal’s Malda district to the seemingly greener pastures of Odisha three months back. Now, his dreams along with his body lay buried even as migrant workers of the country experience the biggest crisis of recent history.Employed at a construction site in IIT-Bhubaneswar, he was found hanging at an under construction building on the campus under Jatni police limits on Sunday morning. The police investigation suggested the worker committed suicide.
A worker on condition of anonymity said, the deceased was upset after construction stopped on March 25 and he was missing his wife and children. “He spoke to his family members three to four days back on video call. He used to frequently tell us that he wanted to return to his village and also went with a group of workers to meet their employer recently requesting to facilitate their return,” he added.
The deceased was observing fasting (roza) during the holy month of Ramzan and he did not return to his bed on Saturday night. When his associates woke up in wee hours of Sunday to have pre-dawn meal (sehri), they found him missing. He was later found hanging in an under-construction building on the institute campus.
His body were sent to his family members back home on Monday. The police directed the workers’ supervisor to buy a coffin to transport the body in an ambulance and a same was bought for `5,500. At least three associates of the deceased hailing from the district handed over his mortal remains to his family on Monday morning and later, they were sent to a quarantine facility by the authorities there.
“There are about 1,000 migrant workers staying in three different colonies on IIT campus and they are natives of different states,” said an electrician, Salman Khan of Uttar Pradesh’s Maharajganj district. Khan said their employer is giving them `400 to `500 per week and they were purchasing ration from it but the amount is not sufficient for many labourers, who are staying here with their families.
A tiles mason, Anikul Hassan of West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, said their employer assured that the work will commence few days after the first phase of the lockdown but construction work started only after May 3.