KASARAGOD: Monday afternoon, Shesh Nath (24) -- a construction worker from Lakhimpur in Uttar Pradesh -- was at Naya Bazaar at Uppala in Mangalpady panchayat. He was looking for a good pair of flip flops.
He was getting ready for his journey back home. "I am done here. I have to go home. Do you know when is the next train to UP?" he said.
Around 250 workers, mostly in their twenties from Lakhimpur, are in several one-room houses at Manimunda. All of them are in the construction industry, employed as painters, masons, RCC workers. "We are all frustrated here. We have got no ration for the past 15 days. My family sent me Rs 1,500 to survive here," said his friend Ramesh, a painter.
When Shesh Nath was shopping in Naya Bazaar, he got a call from his friend in Uppala, where there are 12 migrant workers. A group of them had packed their bags and have started to walk to Mangaluru Junction.
They got a message on WhatsApp that a train was leaving for Uttar Pradesh from Mangaluru Junction, 30 km from Uppala.
TNIE had to make quick calls to the Railway PRO to convince Shesh Nath to get them back in their barracks. "There is one train to Uttar Pradesh from Mangaluru, but only migrant workers from Dakshina Kannada can board that train," the official said.
Shesh Nath was disappointed. "How long should we stay here without job and money?" said Shesh Nath. They have lots of questions.
For the past 51 days, the labourers in Manimunda and Uppala are out of work.
Monday morning, Ramesh's house-owner called on him. "He did not ask me for rent but asked me not to use light and fans as the power bill was running high," he said.
But the house-owner of his friends was more direct. The house-owner asked them when were they leaving and asked them to sit outside the room during the day to save power.
The Kerala government had asked the house-owner of migrant workers not to evict them during the lockdown period or ask for rent.
The migrant workers in Mangalpady panchayat were living in rooms with rent ranging from Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,000. Each room may have up to 10 workers.
"He is asking us when will we leave. But how can we leave if the government does not run trains!" said Ramesh.
The district administration said the construction and infrastructure industry had begun work. "But only 1% of us have work and they too cannot go to the site because there is no bus. We all want to go home. That's all," said Vikas, another migrant worker.
When the lockdown began in late March, the migrant workers of Uppala ran into trouble with the local voluntary organisation.
They put out a video saying they were not getting enough food. So, another organisation came forward to help them. "But the members of the first organisation which was supplying food provision took offence to the video and abused us and threatened to teach us a lesson," said Ramesh, who has been working as a painter in Kasaragod for the past four years.
Now, they have decided not to take food supplies from any organisation to buy their own provisions.
Ramesh said after leaving Lakhimpur, he had worked in Delhi, Gujarat and Daman and Diu. "In all these places, the work time was nine to 10 hour and the maximum I was paid was Rs 250 per day. In Delhi, the employer did not pay me for nine months and I had to run away," he said.
But in Kerala, Ramesh said, he had to work only for eight hours and got a wage of Rs 700 plus free food. "It is very good here and that's why I stayed back for four years. But my experience during lockdown is very bad," he said.
Much before the COVID pandemic, Ramesh had bought a ticket to go home on April 19. "The travel agency is not even refunding me," he said.
Kasaragod collector D Sajith Babu said that the district administration has prepared a list of 1,200 migrant workers each from Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Bihar. "We are not able to send them home because these states have not given permissions," he said.
Whereas, Uttrakhand and Madhya Pradesh gave permission, and two trains with 1,100 migrant workers each left from Kanhangad last week. The Madhya Pradesh government even paid the ticket fare of the workers.
But the migrant workers do not understand these bureaucratic talks. My heart is no longer here. Please take us home," Ramesh said.