MALUR (KOLAR): Srivastava is just 22, but carries a big burden on his young shoulders. He is anxious about the well-being of his family members back in Patna, and with no source of income or livelihood, he thought it best to leave Bengaluru. And maybe return after three months, by which time he hopes the corona crisis would have blown over.
This is what Srivastava, a cook at a restaurant in Domlur, told Central Range Inspector General of Police K V Sharath Chandra, as he waited at Malur station, to board a train to Bihar. Chandra was in Malur to inspect the arrangements made for the migrant workers leaving the state. On Saturday, around 1,206 migrant workers, including 100 women, left on the Patna train.
Chandra told TNSE that a majority of people he interacted with just want to go home to their parents, wives and children, even if it meant spending money. Prashanth (32), a construction labourer in Bengaluru, and Upadhyay (41), a painter, said they came to Bengaluru to earn their livelihoods, but when the virus began to spread, they started getting anxious calls from their families, asking them to return.
Chandra said that several migrants were happy that people had provided them with food and many house owners were accommodating too. Kolar SP Karthick Reddy, in association with some NGOs, had arranged packets of food, bananas and water bottles for the migrants.
Interestingly, a few migrant workers have saved the police officials’ numbers, so they can call in case they need to, when and if they return to Karnataka. (With inputs from Rajesh Kumar)