Facing an uncertain future, migrants return to Bihar

The worry about the future and the pain of being unsettled is very visible on the faces of the thousands of migrants returning to their homes in Bihar.

A special train carried more than 1,600 migrant workers from Ahmedabad to Muzaffarpur on Wednesday. Each one of them had a story to narrate but the underlying concern was about the future. With no means to earn a livelihood in their home towns, the future for most looked dark. The workers said that there was nothing left for them in Ahmedabad, and so they had to return to their native places.

One of the labourers said, "When the lockdown was first announced, we heard that many labourers were walking hundreds of kilometres to return to their homes. We also wanted to return to our homes at that time but were stopped by the local administration after promising to provide us with all the basic facilities. But later on, we got nothing."

Krishna Kumar of Motihari, along with some other labourers, walked out of the platform carrying a bag and water bottle. They all used to work as masons and labourers in a big construction company. All of them now say they will live by eating salt and bread, but will not go to other states to work.

He said, "The way we were treated in the one and a half months, we can never forget it in life. I will eat whatever I get in my village, but will not go anywhere now."

Virender Paswan, who returned from Ahmedabad, is worried about the future. He said, "We are daily wage labourers. We returned out of fear of corona and we did not get any work for two months. Now, if we do not get work here, what will we do? Can't stay at home hungry for fear of corona."

After screening, all the migrant labourers coming to Muzaffarpur, were sent to their respective districts in buses provided by the administration.

Mohammad Kalam, who reached Danapur railway station by a special train from Karnataka, worked in a company in Bengaluru. He said that he had no money left and to catch this train he had to travel 35 kms on foot.

Around 750 students from Kota in Rajasthan also reached Danapur on Wednesday. Each student was sanitized and given a food pocket and sent to their destination by the government and private vehicles. During this, a team of Railway and Patna Police was present at the railway station.

Information and Public Relations Department Secretary Anupam Kumar said that according to the information received so far from the Transport Nodal Officer of the Disaster Management Department, 25 trains had arrived on Wednesday, carrying 34,629 people. He said that the Chief Minister has instructed that within seven to eight days, arrangements for bringing people from outside are made.

He said, "137,401 people had arrived in the state through 115 trains till May 11. There is a plan to bring 4,27, 200 more people through 267 trains, but this is not the final list."

( With inputs from IANS )