Lockdown 4.0 fails to mitigate migrants’ misery
LUDHIANA: From walking hundreds of miles on the highways to queuing up government offices, the ordeal of migrant labourers seems to be endless. Agitated migrants continued to visit the office of Ludhiana deputy commissioner (DC) with a host of complaints even on the first day of lockdown 4.0 on Monday.
A group of garment factory employees, who walked all the way from Tajpur Road, were seen arguing with a security of guard at the DC office. Mohd Tazim, of Araria district of Bihar, said that despite having a booking, they were denied to travel on a train to Bihar on May 14.
“We were told to get a medical clearance for travelling in bus but were given no information on where to catch a bus to Bihar. We had got a medical screening conducted at the civil hospital with great difficulty. We remained stranding for hours without food and some of us received a cane on the back. We are suffering for obeying the law while many who have bribed the agents and middlemen have reached their destination,” said Tazim.
UNEMPLOYMENT, HUNGER MAKING THEM LEAVE
Though shops and factories opened on Monday, many migrants are still keen to go back to their homes as they have been fired from their jobs and have no money to buy essentials, including food. Subash Chandra, who was residing with his family in a rented accommodation in Mundian Kalan, said he was returning to his village in Aligarh as he no longer has a job. “I was working in an auto parts manufacturing unit at Phase 5 Focal Point.
The factory has opened but the employer has asked me and some more employees to not come to work. It is useless to stay here when there is no work,” he said.
As per data on the Punjab helpline portal, as many as 16 lakh migrants have applied to go back to their home states, of which 50% are from Ludhiana.
On Monday, around 22,000 migrants left for their native places via trains and buses from Punjab. Of this, 13,000 migrants are from Ludhiana alone. As many as 15 buses carrying migrants left for 10 districts in Uttar Pradesh, including Mathura, Meerut, Saharanpur, Bulandshahar, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat and Hapur.