Karnataka government cannot force workers to stay

The Karnataka government’s decision to cancel the trains which were to take the migrant workers in Bengaluru back to their home states is cruel and inhuman, and exposes a selfish and unsympathetic attitude which would only bring discredit to it. Arrangements had been made to run 10 special trains over five days to take the workers to northern and eastern states as they had demanded facilities to return to their homes ever since the lockdown was imposed. Some of them had started walking to their homes, and the sight of poor workers moving with their families, lugging their belongings, had shaken the conscience of the nation. Earlier this week, the central government decided to allow them to go home and the Railways started special services for them from some states. The Karnataka government also assured the workers that they would be taken home in these trains. The central government showed its lack of regard for the workers by demanding that they pay for their passage, and the state has now shown its highhandedness by telling them that they cannot go.

The arrangements were cancelled after a group of builders and contractors met Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa and told him that they needed the workers for construction activities in the city. The implications of the decision are very disquieting. The government has turned the workers into forced labour, and the camps where they live may be compared to bonded workers’ camps, with the government standing guard to stop anyone from escaping. Public policy cannot be so insensitive and inconsiderate. How can a government go against the wishes of thousands of people to please a few contractors? The unwholesome and exploitative aspect of the politician-developer nexus is there for all to see in this decision. The need to resume construction is no reason to make unwilling people work. If a worker does not want to work, he cannot be forced to work.

It is claimed that the builders have assured the government that the workers would be taken care of. There have been widespread complaints of the workers not being provided food and other essentials, and so the promises cannot be considered as sincere. Many workers might want to go home regardless of how they are treated. In times of stress, people turn to their native places where the familiar environment gives them a sense of security. Man does not live by bread alone. Workers, too, have the right to freedom, dignity and respect and the government must respect that.