Chennai: On Wednesday, around 2,000 migrant workers were spotted in Gummidipoondi in Thiruvallur district which lies on NH-16 that connects Chennai and Kolkata. They had already walked 45 kilometres from Chennai to Gummidipoondi towards their homes in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Kolkata, Odisha and Himachal Pradesh.
A child from a migrant family walking towards Howrah receives relief material from volunteers at NH 16 in Chennai on May 14. Photo: Ariwarasan
Ever since the lockdown has been announced, migrant workers in the country have been waiting hopelessly for the government to help them reach their homes. While in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, the governments have tweaked labour laws for three years, the Karnataka government has meanwhile, meekly requested the migrants to stay back and revive the economy.
“I can’t wait anymore. I don’t know when I will reach Ballia, Uttar Pradesh. We have neither money nor faith in the government. No one has helped us till now and I don’t think anyone is coming to our rescue anytime soon. I used to earn Rs 4,000 per month and was paid only until March. My elderly parents, wife and children, who depend on me are waiting. The train services are limited. Police from Tamil Nadu lathi-charged us. We 19 people have to undertake this journey,” said 30-year-old Sameer Kumar, a construction labourer who had limped 340 km from Hosur, Tamil Nadu despite being physically challenged as a result of the police attack.
Clubbing their bare necessities into a sack, those who ran the city, at construction sites, small scale industries, restaurants and several other key places walked away from the source of their livelihoods with infants, kids and pregnant women.
“How can you expect them to believe the promises of the government that had unfailingly failed them, even as the fourth phase of lockdown is nearing. They cannot sacrifice their lives waiting for the government to make their move. They haven’t received their wages. They can’t pay rent. Why should they be here? At least let them stay alive to feel the betrayal,” said Thilak Raj, founder of Sevai Karangal, an NGO that works for the marginalised and now provides food packs and water bottles for migrant labourers en route.
On April 22, one of the first batches of around 40 migrant labourers had covered 800 kilometres from Chennai to Visakhapatnam in ten days. When they reached their destination, the workers reported to the state government, where some of them were quarantined in government shelters and others were put on home isolation.
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Migrant workers walking on the Chennai Howrah NH 16 on May 13. Photo: Ariwarasan
“On Wednesday, another group of workers from the factories in Sriperumbudur had started walking towards Andhra Pradesh and already covered a distance of 40 kms with toddlers and a pregnant woman, all in a day. A group of ten workers had been walking to Madhya Pradesh and another to Kolkata. If they have not been taken care during this entire period, why do you expect them to stake their lives in believing that change is just about to come? ” said Thilak.
“There were also three migrant labourers from Himachal Pradesh, which included two elderly and a physically challenged man, who could not even catch the train to their hometown despite carrying a travel pass as the police could not understand their language. As a result, when they were five kms away from the Dr MGR Chennai Central Railway Station, they were sent back. As the trio was unable to reach their state government officials for a month, they have now decided to walk home maintaining social distancing on the highway like other migrants,” he said.
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“As the tickets for Shramik Express are booked, a few of them had got bicycles instead of depending on the government, pedalling on hope rather than food,” said Ananthoo, founder of Organic Farmers Market who along with other volunteers is arranging food for the migrants walking home in Gummidipoondi.
Migrant workers walking home to Lucknow, Budaun and Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh on May 13 at the Noida- Greater Noida Expressway receiving relief. Photo: Author Provided
The Ministry of Home Affairs had directed state governments to ensure that migrant workers board the ‘Shramik’ special trains and do not walk home. Each train can carry a maximum of 1,200 passengers. On May 11, Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K. Palaniswamy said that around 9,000 migrant workers had been sent home in special trains.
Migrant workers walking home to Lucknow, Budaun and Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh on May 13 at the Noida- Greater Noida Expressway. Photo: Author Provided
“According to the official claims, there are only 50,000 workers in Chennai. Whereas, there are 15 lakh migrant workers in Tamil Nadu and 5 lakh in Chennai alone. It clearly shows that they don’t want to acknowledge the presence of these workers and forget helping them. The government is keeping its records clean on paper whereas at the ground level we are arranging pit stops every 60 kms so that the basic needs can be met,” said Dilip Srinivasan from The New Face of Society, a Facebook community of volunteers previously called Tamil Nadu Flood Support, with over 75,000 members.
“When we criticise the government in these aspects, we are looked at as impractical people. Even though we live in a democracy, inclusivity has been made a far-fetched idea. Is it fair to hold back migrant labourers compulsorily at gunpoint, because they have no voice, no money and you need them for economic development? Isn’t this bonded labour?” said Jayendra Bhupathi, a volunteer.
T.Venkat, a volunteer from the Chennai Citizens Covid Fund for Migrant Labour said that the situation across the state is tense, with at least 200 migrant labourers walking off the border checkposts every one hour from districts especially Kanchipuram, Tirupur and Coimbatore.
“We cannot ask them to stay back too, because the number of trains running to their hometowns is far and few. They are tensed, because most of them are not able to get the tickets and they know the trains are off without them. We don’t know how the government is prioritising who gets to travel. We get frantic calls from migrant labourers but we are unable to help as we there is complete lack of information. Initially, when North India saw an exodus, it was not the case here. But now they have given up and the last three days have seen a sharp spike,” he said.
On May 15, the migrant workers who had walked till Andhra Pradesh from Tamil Nadu were dumped into lorries and dropped back at random places in Tamil Nadu and finally lodged at a college in the states’ Tiruvallur district. The Andhra Pradesh police had whacked the youngsters with lathis before sending them back to Tamil Nadu’s side of the border. They came back hungry and when offered food, requested for a pain balm for relief.
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Around 300 migrants who walked all the way till Vijayawada were picked up and put in three trucks and sent back to Tamil Nadu side. One truck had dropped them at the Chennai Central Railway Station where they were lathi-charged again because the station was overcrowded. “Though government officials have assured them that they would be sent back in trains to their hometowns, assurances are mere words, till they reach home safe. Meanwhile, the migrant workers have absolutely no trust on anyone even as the borders are being sealed, ” said Ananthoo, from the Organic Farmers Market, who has been helping migrant workers reach their home.
As on May 16, Tamil Nadu became the third state in India to report over 9,000 coronavirus cases. The total number of coronavirus cases in the state now stands at 10,108 and 71 deaths.
Meanwhile, near the capital, the script remains unchanged. Anas Tanwir Siddiqi, an advocate on record at the Supreme Court is helping migrant labourers moving along the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway by feeding them.
Migrant workers walking on Chennai Howrah NH 16 on May 14. Photo: Ariwarasan
“This movement of workers is as unsettling as the lockdown. The first wave of migrant workers, you might attribute to panic. But why are they still walking back? Just as the lockdown was enforced waiting for the pandemic to settle, in the same manner, these workers had been waiting for help which never arrived. They have been hungry for the entire lockdown. It is also the collective failure of those who could help, both the middle and upper class which could afford to continue their wages but chose not to. Also, corporates which have otherwise used their deep pockets to make their business grow, are now asking charity for their employees in the lower rung. It makes one realize the harsh truth that these workers were always the means to an end, ” he said.
Anas is also the founder of ‘Iftar For All’ initiative which was started in 2018 to celebrate Ramzan by providing free Iftar meals to the underprivileged across faith including patients and their family members in hospitals, due to the lack of equitable food distribution in the society.
This Ramzan has been all the more special for Anas and his team members, who have been getting hunger calls from cities to the most remote areas of India. In the initial phase of lockdown itself, they had converted a few mosques into community kitchens and distribution centres. “The police authorities were extremely helpful in this initiative,” he said.
“During the lockdown, a migrant family of eight members had left on a jugaad scooter rickshaw for Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh. I never heard back from them,” Anas said.
Nalini Ravichandran is an independent journalist who has worked with The New Indian Express and Mail Today and reported extensively on health, education, child rights, environment and socio-economic issues of the marginalised. She is an alumna of the Asian College of Journalism.