Employers’ bid to woo back migrants

PATNA: Call it irony of fate that Dilip Pandey, a migrant worker from Muzaffarpur district, has to return to Ahmedabad within two months of somehow making it home after the saree factory he worked in closed during lockdown.
The 30-year-old resident of Bahilwara village under Saraiya block had returned home from Gujarat on May 3 on a Shramik special.
While Pandey left on Monday, fellow villager Sonu Kumar (29) had reached Ahmedabad last week itself.It took three days to reach Ahmedabad from Muzaffarpur by train. “Thank God, the company has provided me with a job once again. I have been promised more salary than earlier,” said Sonu, a skilled worker.
Dilip and Sonu are among a sizeable number of migrant workers who are steadily returning to their previous places of work outside the state. On Sunday, a chartered bus full of migrant workers from Seemanchal region left for Ludhiana in Punjab from Purnia. The bus reportedly sent by the employers had arrived earlier in the day.
According to some labour contractors, buses have arrived from Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Kerala and some other states. “The arrangements of their travel either on private buses or trains are being made by the employers through labour contractors. In a few cases, the employers are dealing with the workers’ return on their own,” said Raj Kumar Mandal, a labour contractor from Supaul-Saharsa region.
“It’s a win-win situation for both migrant skilled workers and the labour contractors. Both are in great demand from the private companies from across the country. While the salaries of the skilled workers have increased, the labour contractors are charging more from the companies,” said S K Sinha, a retired public servant of Kishanganj,
Around 8 lakh semi-skilled workers from eastern Bihar are engaged in well-paying work in sectors such as masonry, garments, metal and agriculture. A major chunk had returned by 120 special trains during lockdown. “With some relaxation in restrictions in the lockdown, people are returning back to the earlier places of work,” said Lalitesh Jha, a social activist of Purnia.