Anger and disappointment coursed through the migrant worker population in Karnataka a day after the state cancelled special trains to take the labourers home even as other states insisted they had no intention of following suit.
The controversial late-night decision also sparked a political tussle with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pointing out the economic benefits of workers staying back and the Congress alleging the stoppage of trains was a violation of human rights.
The state, which had earlier sent six trains of workers to Bhubaneswar, Patna and Hatia, wrote to the Railways on Tuesday night withdrawing its request for additional trains. The decision came after a meeting of chief minister BS Yediyurappa with construction industry representatives, who expressed concern that work will grind to a halt if the labourers left the state.
The surprise move sent shockwaves through the state’s migrant population.
“I want to see my family including my two children, I don’t want to work here,” said 36- year-old Vinod Kumar, who hails from Bihar and worked as a steel rod bender in a factory in Bengaluru. “I don’t want the food or money or anything else they are providing. I just want to go back and be with my family.”
The government started running the single-destination, no-stops Shramik Special trains on May 1 and more than 100,000 migrants have been ferried in 122 trains since, the railways ministry said. Another 42 trains ran on Wednesday.
Gujarat has sent the maximum number of such trains (25) to other states, while Bihar has received the most (13).
A train usually has 24 coaches with each carrying a little over 50 passengers in place of 72. These trains run for distances of over 500 km with at least 90% occupancy.
Yediyurappa defended his decision at a press briefing where he announced a ₹1,610 crore economic stimulus package. “We have requested them [the workers] to stay back as economic activity has restarted and we have provided them all the facilities they have asked for.”
The CM also pointed out that 100,000 people had been allowed to travel on 3,500 state government bus trips for inter-district movement.
Bangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya called it a “bold and necessary move”.
“It will help migrant labourers who came here with hopes of a better life to restart their dreams. Also it will kickstart economic activities full throttle. Karnataka will emerge out of this stronger!”
But the Congress didn’t agree.
Former minister Priyank Kharge said anybody who wants to go should be allowed and questioned whether the migrants were being treated as bonded labour. State Congress chief DK Shivakumar said the government should have tried to win over the hearts and minds of the migrants rather than cancelling trains and trying to hold them captive. “But this is a government which cannot see, cannot hear and doesn’t have a heart,” he added.
A senior state government official defended the move, saying the workers would have been sent to 14-day quarantine once they reached their destination. “Several states have been reluctant to accept them. Here they can get back to a normal life…we are paying ₹5,000 for all registered construction workers.”
In neighbouring Telangana, the government said it would continue to send back workers, at least 500,000 of whom are stranded in the state. On Wednesday morning, three trains carrying 4,000 labourers left the state.
“We have made arrangements for 40 special trains every day for one week for these migrant labourers, but their respective states requested us to go slow,” said Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
However, the real estate industry in Hyderabad expressed apprehension at the departure of the workers.
“More than 80% of the workforce in real estate sector comprises migrant workers, particularly from Bihar, Jharkhand, UP, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. This en-masse exodus of these workers will definitely hamper projects,” said V Rajasekhar Reddy, general secretary of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), Telangana chapter.
Despite industry concerns, a number of other states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh said they won’t stop trains.
“If the governments in those states, where our Andhra workers are held up, are not showing interest in making arrangements for their transport, the AP government itself will provide transport facility to bring them back,” chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said on Wednesday.
Madhya Pradesh additional chief secretary ICP Keshri said all workers from the state will be brought back and arrangements were being made. Jharkhand transport secretary K Ravi Kumar said a total of 10,054 people including 2,146 students have arrived in Jharkhand on 12 special trains.
“We are expecting the rush to continue for at least a week,” Kumar said.
In Bihar, where close to 15,000 migrants and students returned on Wednesday by 13 trains from five states, the officials said stiff challenges lay ahead. “We have entered a challenging phase, with more people returning to their hometowns. The real test starts now,” said a senior state government official who declined to be named.
(With inputs from other state bureaus)
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