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Coronavirus lockdown: Several states back-pedal on migrant movement

Last Updated 07 May 2020, 03:16 IST

Five days and 137 Shramik Special trains later, several states are now rethinking their plans to ferry migrant labourers during the lockdown.

Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Gujarat are back-pedalling on migrant movement in an effort to retain workers in industrial and real estate sectors, while states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are finding it difficult to cope with the sudden surge of people coming back in hordes.

Karnataka cancelled special trains for migrant workers from Wednesday, a day after Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa held a meeting with real estate representatives. He said his ministers will convince the labourers to stay back and avoid unnecessary travel.

There were sharp reactions to the “inhuman” decision, with some alleging the state was treating migrants as bonded labourers.

Congress MLA Krishna Byre Gowda said the government can’t be the “paid agent” of the real estate lobby. “Thousands of people are walking to UP. This is inhuman... Send them well so they want to come back,” he said.

The Congress took up the cudgels in Gujarat too, another BJP-ruled state. Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Sonia Gandhi, said it was “a violation of human & fundamental rights” to hold labourers against their will.

On Monday, Gujarat police had arrested over 200 migrants who allegedly agitated to return to their home states.

Telangana, the first state to run a special train for migrants, appealed to “pravasi bhaai” to stay back.

“If you want to go, we will facilitate it, but most of you should try and stay back,” Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said. Telangana had earlier promised to run 40 special trains.

While many states fear that reverse migration may throw development haywire, especially in metros, the states with a history of migration due to unemployment are not so welcoming of the returnees, as it is putting pressure on their resources.

On Tuesday, Bihar refused permission to five special trains from Kerala, leading to their cancellation, following which hundreds of workers were stranded at stations in Kochi, Alappuzha etc.

After sending nearly 40,000 migrants to their home states, Maharashtra made it clear that there will be no trains from Mumbai in near future.

After Uttar Pradesh stopped some migrants coming in bus from Maharashtra, Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik alleged that UP does not want to take back migrants and was dilly-dallying over the process of giving them permission, demanding to conduct Covid-19 tests on them.

Ahmed Patel wondered why certain BJP-ruled states were trying to disallow the trains when the Congress had committed to bearing the cost of migrants’ travel.

However, the reasons for the decision appear more financial than political as migrants play a key role in running the development engine in a number of these states. Hence, even non-BJP-ruled states appear keen to retain the workers.

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(Published 06 May 2020, 18:14 IST)

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