‘Cannot wait and depend on govt. any more’

Migrant workers pin their hopes on special trains to return home, buy tickets with borrowed money from neighbours, kin

May 30, 2020 11:29 pm | Updated 11:29 pm IST - NEW DELHI

Migrants being screened before boarding a bus to New Delhi railway station.

Migrants being screened before boarding a bus to New Delhi railway station.

Nearly a month since the government started ferrying back workers to their home States, several groups of migrant workers, who were unable to take those trains, on Friday said that they had borrowed money and bought tickets for the special trains as they could not “wait and depend” on the government any longer for their travel back home.

With destinations being States like Bihar, West Bengal, Chattisgarh and Assam, the workers, waiting at the New Delhi railway station said that money lent by neighbours and family members back home were what they accumulated to buy tickets which cost them up to ₹4,000 each.

Uncertain situation

Asidul, a daily wager, hailing from West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district said, “It has been more than two months that we have been out of work and stranded in this city. How much longer can we wait? Currently, the situation is so uncertain and we do not know when normalcy will be restored. It was a difficult task to arrange for money as we are a group of six travelling, but we did not really have any other option.”

Asidul and his family, had been living in Greater Noida’s Kasna village where they were construction workers. “We hired a tempo and reached the station. Considering that we have already waited for so long, how can we depend on the government any further? In the end, the poor are always left on their own with nobody to care for them,” he said.

Basic meals

Sairabanu, 17, who used to work in Model Town area, said, “Our tickets cost ₹3,700 each. We do not have a single penny left. In such a situation, it is best to somehow reach home to our families. For our journey, we have packed whatever basic meal we could, especially for the children.”

For some like Savitri, lack of clarity over the cancellation procedure meant that she could not take the Shramik train back home to Patna. “We had registered our names for the trains which the government arranged but did not got any response. So we took some help from others and bought tickets online. But two days later we got a message for the government train. But we were not sure if we will get our money back for these tickets which we bought. It is a lot of money and how can we waste it?” said Ms. Savitri.

Express anguish

With reports of trains losing way, not reaching their destinations and deaths taking place, some even expressed anguish over the arrangements made by the government.

Komal Prasad, 26, hailing from Chattisgarh’s Bilaspur district said, “My brother and I used to work as daily wagers in Bahadurgarh and had come to the city only four months ago. Unfortunately, the lockdown started soon after and we got stuck. Initially, we had registered ourselves for the trains in which labourers could travel free of cost. But since the time people started saying those trains were getting ‘lost’, our parents got worried and sent us money to buy tickets.”

Mohammad Mikhail, another worker headed to Bihar’s Katihar district said, “Our only hope is that these trains, for which we have bought tickets are not travelling for free and will reach the correct destination on time. After having lost so much in the last two months, this is our last hope and we have to take a chance so that we can reach our families.”

While most had packed meals for themselves, especially for children, some said they were depending on water and basic items being sold onboard.

Mohammad Rahman, who was waiting at the station with five others said, “We used to work in Jammu and took a train to reach Delhi a day ago. Now, we have one more train to take and the total journey is costing us around ₹5,000 each. We are extremely low on resources. They are selling water and bananas on the trains. I guess that is what we will survive on.”

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