Bipin Kumar, 24, is one of the 75 labourers who left their jobs in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu last week to begin the long trek to their home towns in Uttar Pradesh. With at least six children, all aged under 10, the labourers took turns to carry them as they walked in the heat.
But when they approached the Tamil Nadu–Karnataka border three days ago, the Karnataka police detained them and housed them at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), with the aim of ensuring that they complete the rest of their journey by train. The BIEC has been turned into a temporary shelter for migrants walking to States in north India. And it is houseful.
The centre presently has nearly a thousand such migrant labourers who were detained at the Karnataka–Tamil Nadu border as well those found walking along National Highway 44 towards Hyderabad.
Following reports of migrant labourers in Bengaluru embarking on foot to north India, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa is learnt to have directed officers to ensure that all those walking home are put on trains. This has kicked off a special drive by the police who are rounding up all migrants, including those from other States.
No milk for children
Mr. Kumar who works in a garment factory said that he and the others in his group did not have a choice but to leave. “The factory had provided us accommodation and food till May 4. However, with the extension of the lockdown for the third time, the factory owners stopped giving us rations and other facilities,” said Bipin Kumar.
Carrying his one-and-a-half-year-old son Abhishek, Mr. Kuamr was desperately searching for milk, which is currently not available. Food and other facilities have been provided, but not milk. There are at least 30 children at the BIEC, including eight-month-old Arti from Vikarabad district of Telangana.
Sarfaraz Khan, Joint Commissioner, BBMP, who is in charge of facilities at the centre, said they have taken note of the issue and milk would be supplied from Saturday.
Waiting to leave
People housed at the BIEC are impatient to go home. Umesh Kumar, 28, who worked as a mason in Mysuru and began walking to his home in Jharkhand four days ago before he was brought to the centre by the police, said, “I have been at the BIEC for two days now and all promises of a train have proved false. We want to desperately get home. If they cannot arrange trains, let them leave us from here, we will walk home.” His sentiment is echoed by hundreds of stranded migrants.
Last week, the police had similarly detained nearly 300 people walking along NH 44 and housed them in two marriage halls at Kodigehalli. Several of them have now been shifted to the BIEC. “I was detained by the police on May 7 and I am still at the BIEC waiting for a train to get back home. Many of my friends who escaped were able to hitch rides on trucks and have already reached home,” said Dileep Kumar Sahni, 28, from Uttar Pradesh, who worked as a carpenter in Bengaluru.
A senior official said, “The hands of the Karnataka government are tied, as the home States of migrant labourers are rationing out permissions for trains to stagger the influx into their States. But it is increasingly becoming tough to manage them for long.”
A help desk at the BIEC is helping the migrant labourers register on Seva Sindhu, an online portal for travel out of the State. “We are prioritising those at the BIEC to be sent home and we will look after them till they board trains,” said Ravi B. Channannavar, Superintendent of Police, Bengaluru Rural district.
Many migrant labourers are still choosing to walk home, and were spotted on NH 44, on Friday too, though their numbers have come down from the previous weeks. Most of them continue to be detained and housed in shelters such as the BIEC.
