Desperate to return home, migrant workers throng Pune railway station

Pune: Anxiety writ large on his face, Kundan Singh, a worker at construction site in Lohegaon, stands near the reservation centre of the Pune railway station, his friend — Dheeraj Kumar — by his side.
“We are trying to catch the 9pm Danapur Express to Bihar. We have been at the station since 7am trying to get confirmed tickets. Even the general tickets we bought are on the wait list.We are hoping that our tickets will be confirmed by evening. The officials said that getting a sleeper class confirmed ticket was next to impossible. ‘Lagta hai hamara koi bhagwan nahi hai dekhne waala (It seems we have no God to take care of us),” Singh told TOI.
A few yards away, many people are seen filling reservation forms for different trains. A crowd mills around a middle-aged man, who promises to make things work for them on return for some extra money. He tells those following him to be seated on the stairs leading to the reservation centre and then disappears inside. “We all are travelling to either Bihar or Uttar Pradesh. We have been trying to get reserved tickets, but in vain. Today this person showed up and he promised us reserved tickets for Rs200 extra. We don’t want to be stuck here without food and shelter if a lockdown happens,” one of them said.
The railways have made it clear that only those with confirmed tickets will be allowed to board trains. On Wednesday, the Central Railway announced two additional trains from Pune to Gorakhpur in UP and from Pune to Bhagalpur in Bihar.
“I have been working in Pune for over two years as a security guard. My mother doesn’t want me to return and as some people in my village have decided not to let in anyone coming from places with huge Covid patients. How can I survive here when I have been fired from my job and a lockdown appears imminent? At least, I can live on the village outskirts,” Sudhir Ojha, who hails from Lakhisarai district in Bihar, said.