COVID19, RETURN OF MIGRANT WORKERS


"It was the longest ride back. We did not have much to eat, but had to return to the safety of our home somehow".These are the words of a migrant worker  Mr Lakhan who returned from Rajkot, Gujarat, travelling over 450 km alongwith his wife and two teenage daughters. Trudging the long distance, switching transport four times and halting for nights at three cities, Lakhan made it home in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh on Thursday morning. If this was shown in a cinema litres of tears would have fallen on the theatre floor.

"Please send us some money. We don't have anything left. Even the contractor is refusing to pay us. What should we do? We will die of hunger and thirst." These were the last words Krishnawati Singh recalled from her husband's phone conversation at 9.00 pm on Thursday, as he dispiritedly trudged along railway tracks in hoping to reach his village home, some 800 km away. At 5.15 am on Friday, a freight train ran over Ms Singh's husband who alongwith three villagers from Maman and several others of Shahdol district of Madhya Pradesh, were sleeping on the railway tracks.

There are cases of migrant workers on their way back home state from far away places by walk were died enroute. In another report some states have refused to receive their own people returned from other states. Yet in another media report, a group of migrant workers returned to their home village in MP by walk from Mumbai, a distance of over 800 km, were not allowed to enter their home village for fear of the spread of coronavirus.

Both central and concerned state governments may have their own defensive explanations for all that had happened. None is going to shoulder the responsibility. There are umpteen number of political parties and enough number of trade unions to safeguard the interests of these workers.

It is requested to all political parties of MP, Maharashtra or Gujarat or any othe states to rise to the occasion and help the families of the deceased and other poor workers who are badly in need of help.

KV George
kvgeorgein@gmail.com


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