VIJAYAWADA: Migrant workers Jateshwar Nayak (17) and Pinku Nayak (20) walked about 80 km from Jaggaiahpet to Vijayawada with the hope that arrangements would have been made for those belonging to other States to send them back to their hometowns.
However, after walking for 15 days, they had to end up in one of the relief camps set up for migrant workers by the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) on Sunday.
"We reached Vijayawada on Saturday night. As we do not have any room to stay here, we somehow sneaked into the bus stand and slept there at night. We had seen in news that people like us are going to the collector’s office, so we also decided to go there, thinking that buses would have been arranged. But, while we were on our way to the collector’s office, using the Google maps, we saw a few people gathering at the sub-collector’s office along with their luggage and talking to policemen. So, we stopped here thinking that this was the place," said Jateshwar.
The duo had been working in a hotel at Jaggaiahpet near AP-Telangana border for the past five months. The initial 10 to 15 days of lockdown, their employer allowed them to stay and eat at the hotel, but later asked them to leave as he wanted to go back to his hometown, for which he had made some arrangements.
"After our owner asked us to leave, we embarked on a journey towards Odisha. But on our way, we learnt about arrangements being made for migrant workers to return to their hometowns. So, we stopped here. But instead of going home, we are stuck in this relief camp. We don’t want to stay here. We want to go home where our family is. It would have been better if we would have not been stopped here," he lamented.
Meanwhile, nearly 30 migrant workers gathered at the sub-collector office in Vijayawada on Sunday. After reaching there, they were given WhatsApp number and were asked to send their details to it. Later, they were asked to leave and told that further details will be communicated.
Explaining the process of shifting other migrant workers of other States, Krishna district Joint Collector K Madhavi Latha said that they have planned to run special trains. "Each train can transport 1,200 people. We are now trying to draw people from various districts of AP belonging to other States. We also need to negotiate with the governments of other States as the trains will run point-to-point and respective States have to arrange further travel," she said. Between April 28 and May 2, 1,968 migrant workers were shifted to 12 districts in approximately 79 buses within the State, she said.