CHENNAI: “I started with a hope to survive this, but if I have to die on the way, then so be it,” says visibly tired Ram Nivas at the TN-Andhra border in Tiruvallur district. A resident of Himachal Pradesh, he is among the 2,000 plus migrant labourers who are on a perilous long walk from Chennai and its suburbs to their faraway homes in North India.The old saying ‘the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step’ has turned literally true for these workers as they started walking on the Chennai-Kolkata national highway.
Unmindful of dehydration and hunger, many among them even reached as far as Vijayawada, a good 500 kilometre from Chennai. However, unkind destiny was awaiting them there in the attire of Andhra Pradesh police who, despite the pleas from the tired workers, packed them into buses and sent them all the way back to Tamil Nadu border.
Good Samaritans at border
The only hope for these workers, now stranded at the interstate border, is a group of volunteers. As many as 70 good Samaritans at Kavarapettai, Elavur, Gummidipoondi and Redhills have been providing food and water to them. “We have set up a network of volunteers from Tiruvallur all the way to Indore in Madhya Pradesh, to provide food for those who are walking home. While many of them had reached Ongole, Vijayawada and Nellore two days back, the Andhra Pradesh police stopped them and transported them back to the border in buses and trucks, says Himathinan, a volunteer.
The volunteers who hail from various parts of the State say they have been trying to hold talks with officials of Andhra and Tamil Nadu, but in vain. “We also contacted Atulya Misra, the nodal officer appointed to oversee the return of migrants. We have requested him to arrange trains to ferry these people. The official said works in this regard are underway,” says Himathinan.
New check posts
Incidently, the Tamil Nadu police have set up new checking points at a few kilometres before the Andhra border to prevent migrant workers from entering the neighbouring State. The move came apparently after the Andhra officials pressurised their TN counterparts to not allow the workers cross the border.
Meanwhile, the stranded workers stare at an uncertain future with no sight of home. “People who left the city three day before us are also stuck here with no food and money. The police are asking us to go back to where we started. What do they think why we left in the first place,” laments Rakesh Khanna from Odisha.
The labourers say many of them were forced to vacate their rooms because they couldn’t pay the rent and some were even chased away from construction sites or factories after the lockdown took effect.
“Officials and volunteers are trying to convince us to stay back saying the journey is dangerous and there is no hope of finding jobs back home. But we don’t have anywhere else to go. I have two little children who need milk and food,” says Ram Nivas adding that many of his friends and relatives working at other States are experiencing the same fate.
6th Shramik special train leaves Vellore
Vellore: The sixth Shramik special train operated from Katpadi railway junction in Vellore departed for Tatanagar in Jharkhand with 1,464 stranded labourers and patients from five districts on Friday. “The special train with 1,464 passengers from five districts departed from Katpadi to Tatanagar in Jharkhand today afternoon,” a senior official said. The passengers included stranded migrant labourers and patients visiting CMC Hospital from, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Tirupathur, Ranipet and Villupuram, he added. This is the sixth train in a series of special trains operated from Katpadi. ENS
Maharashtra workers stage demonstration at Gunnur
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