This story is from June 26, 2020

Migrant workers look for jobs & transport to return

Fifty days ago, when the first Shramik Special train from Uruli Kanchan railway station of the Pune rail division left for Madhya Pradesh carrying 1,093 migrant workers, Dinesh Kumar from Anjani village in Anuppur, was dejected when his name was not on the travellers’ list.
Migrant workers look for jobs & transport to return
Back home, many workers took to farming but they said it was hardly yielding
PUNE: Fifty days ago, when the first Shramik Special train from Uruli Kanchan railway station of the Pune rail division left for Madhya Pradesh carrying 1,093 migrant workers, Dinesh Kumar from Anjani village in Anuppur, was dejected when his name was not on the travellers’ list.
Kumar, a fabricator in a company in Kondhapuri in Shirur, now thanks his stars. “I did try to go home. But the district administration kept telling me that my name was not on the list. Today, I am lucky that I couldn’t go back.
I still have my job and we didn’t face many hassles. Now that the companies are opening up again, I made the right decision to cancel my trip home,” Kumar told TOI on Thursday.
Anup Patel, who hails from the same district in MP and was able to go home, regrets leaving Pune.
“I am at home farming. However, it doesn’t pay me much and I have not been able to get a job here. Three days ago, I got a call from my employer in Pune who told me that he could arrange my return journey. I agreed readily but he told me to arrange for at least 10 to 12 people willing to work so that he can send us a bus. Now, I hope there will be many like me who want to go back. My decision to come back home was wrong,” Patel said.
Since May 7, as many as 140 Shramik Specials have left Pune rail division to different states carrying over 1.40 lakh migrants.
The Railways has decided not to ply any trains except the special ones till August 12.
“The last train to Odisha and Jharkhand operated on Tuesday,” a rail division official said. Another railway official said there are 100 pairs of trains are running across the country. At the Pune station, the Pune-Danapur Express that runs every day is full, The return trains from Bihar and UP are bringing back people,” he said.

Santosh Rathor, another MP resident, who had taken the same train to go home, said he was waiting for more trains to start.
“Aane ka saadhan nahi hai. (There is no means to come back). The number of trains is less and buses are not operational. I have tried to check reservations on the Danapur Express as I can catch it from Itarsi. However, the distance between my district and Itarsi is over 500km. I cannot get a reservation and I will have to travel to the station. If the transport starts, I will come back without delay. Farming doesn’t help at all,” Rathor ,who worked as a mechanic in Pune, told TOI.
Luvkush Kevat from Sarangarh village said he had sought help from friends in Pune. “I cannot sustain for long now. I am sure that I will get a job once I come back to Pune. I am just waiting for more trains to start,” he said.
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA