COVID-19 lockdown: Opening a window of return for the migrant workers
Hours after Uttar Pradesh this week began using buses to bring back its migrants stuck in Haryana, the state’s helplines serving Maharashtra went crazy with over 97,700 distress calls from migrant workers wanting to go home. Meanwhile, Insaf Ali made it back from Mumbai to his Mathkanwa village in Shravasti district, UP, hitchhiking over 1,500 km over 14 days. But the tale ended in tragedy. The construction worker died soon after from dehydration. Nudged by the Supreme Court to take cognisance of a developing national tragedy of stranded migrant people, the Centre has allowed opening road transport to states wanting to ferry people back. But a more comprehensive policy is required.
An estimated 139 million migrants, serving the economy in diverse tasks, were caught off guard when the prime minister declared a 21-day curfew in March. Public transport was frozen. The rich and the well-heeled were lucky. They had a small window when flights operated to bring them back. But the daily wage migrant was stuck without a job or support. When the future is bleak, it is natural, a survival instinct, for them to try and make it back to one’s own village and family for succour. The coronavirus lockdown has unfortunately denied this last option to millions.
As the Centre prepares for the tasks after the current round of lockdown ends on May 3, it is necessary that public transport—both rail and road—is opened for a few days for these hapless people to return home. There are the naysayers pointing to the risk of the infection being carried to rural districts. However, a graded response is possible. Those in hotspots can be kept back. Those returning can be screened at departure. On arrival at their destinations, a two-week quarantine can be imposed. UP deployed special buses to bring back stranded students from Kota. Why should the same humanity not be extended to the bricklayer? The plight of the migrant worker is a ticking time bomb, and his swift transfer home must be high on the 3rd May agenda.