For years together, Mumbai saw hordes of people arrive in the city by trains to chase their dreams and build a future. But now, just the reverse is visible, as thousands of migrant labourers leave the city in desperation, in whatever transport they can find. And if they fail to find transport, they are simply walking home to far-flung places like Lucknow and Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh. Sometimes, the journey ends with tragic consequences. A group of labourers who left in a tempo from Mumbai on Sunday evening, met with an accident just hours later, on the same highway they had stopped for a break.
Hours earlier, they had spoken to NDTV and said they were returning to their homes as they had nothing to eat.
Mumbai's migrant labourers are leaving the city in hordes. Not just in special "Shramik(workers)" trains arranged by the government, but in auto rickshaws, trucks, tempos and even on foot. A labourer among a group headed to Sultanpur in a truck said, "We left at 8 last night. We have been stranded here since 2 am as the truck broke down." The group has pregnant women, children who are from one-month-old to one-year-old who are forced to wait on the road as their truck is being repaired.
Thousands of migrant labourers are leaving Mumbai in desperation, in whatever transport they can find.
The government says they are yet to arrive at an estimate of how many have left with thousands giving the police a slip and leaving on foot. Unofficially, government sources say lakhs are already on their way home to other states.
Shiv Sena spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said, "The issue of migrant labourers are very important. One must address this, whether it's the state or the central government. Now trains have resumed. These migrants will able to move to their home."
A 1,400-km journey, that had barely begun for a group of 20 travelling to Lucknow in a tempo, came to a grinding halt in the most tragic manner. The driver of the tempo, who had spoken to NDTV, just hours earlier, is now dead. His family survived with injuries after their tempo met with an accident. One of among the group had told NDTV, "There are lots of problems. We don't have anything to eat. We had rations till now, so we were eating that. Now, we are heading out. We will travel somehow in this."
The driver who died had told NDTV, "We are all relatives. The tempo had broken down. We left at 8 pm. The tempo broke down at 11 pm. There was no option but to wait till morning when we went to Bhiwandi. From there we got it repaired and came here."
Even as the Uddhav Thackeray government announced the cost of their railway tickets would be borne by the state government through the Chief Minister's Relief Fund and the special trains continue to leave Mumbai, many migrant labourers simply aren't willing to wait. For them it's just about getting home, even it if it means risking their lives, sometimes with tragic consequences.
