Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar meets officials every day and directs them to help migrant workers returning to the State. But some workers allege “inhuman treatment” by officials in their own State and others praise the Uttar Pradesh government for lending them a hand in their arduous journey back home.
Driven by desperation, thousands of migrants have been returning to their home districts, crossing inter-State highways, fleeing not only the virus but also poverty, hunger and death. Packing their pots, pans and blankets into rucksacks, they walk in groups or alone. “You fear the disease but we fear poverty and hunger more than corona,” said a young emaciated migrant in a video released on social media. “More than corona, the pain is of rejection by our own government,” the others chip in.
In the video, they say that after they entered Bihar, the government did not give them anything, not even a bottle of water. “The policemen and even villagers shooed us away as if they would contract the virus by speaking to us... We had no option but to walk along, thirsty and hungry,” said one.
But they took out biscuit packets, snacks and water bottles from a bag and placed them on the road to say, “Look, these have been provided by the Uttar Pradesh government... The Yogi Adityanath government has done a lot for us..., but we got only pain and rejection by our own government.”
On a passing truck, another group in the video shouted: “The Uttar Pradesh government took better care of us.”
Asked whether they received ₹1,000 after the Bihar government said it had deposited the sum in 19 lakh bank accounts, they said, “Kuch nahi mila hai [nothing has been received yet].” Whereas, they said, the returning migrants had to pay ₹3,000- ₹5,000 to truck owners for their journey.
An audio clip went viral on social media on Saturday. In it, a government official of the Barsoi sub-division in Katihar district is heard abusing a Dalpati (a member of the village defence force) for informing him about 8-10 migrant youths who had come to the village. “I’m just doing my duty to inform you about the migrants coming to the village,” said the Dalpati. The officer is heard pulling him up using the choicest abuse.
Stories of pain have come in from quarantine centres, too. On Friday, the migrants in Madhubani, Araria, Vaishali and Jamui districts complained about lack of amenities and worm-infested food. Officials responded that things would improve soon. Over three lakh migrants have returned to Bihar in the past 10 days and over 2.25 lakh of them have been quarantined in 4,676 centres.
On Saturday, over 40,000 migrants returned by train, few among them happy over the fact that they could make the journey.
