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Lockdown fears, panchayat polls drive migrant workers back to home from Jalandhar
Industrialists are terming it a routine process and say that labourers return to their homes during this period every year
For the last two days, Jalandhar has been witnessing migration of labourers who have started journey back to their home states citing lockdown fear and panchayat polls.
Most of the returnees are street hawkers, vendors and labourers who were said to be affected by the night curfew.
Nand Lal, a street hawker from Uttar Pradesh, said he feared that the Punjab government might also clamp a lockdown just like its Delhi counterpart. Sunil Kumar, a fast food seller, said his customers used to visit him after 8pm, but the night curfew shut his business.
Ankit Shukla, who worked at a sweets shop, said the second phase of panchayat polls in UP was round the corner and he, along with his family and close friends, was going to Baraich to cast his vote on April 26.
About 15 buses with migrant labourers have left for UP’s Bahraich since Tuesday morning. It also come to the fore that private bus operaters have been charging hefty fares from labourers due to the shortage of public transport.
However, industrialists termed it a routine process and said that labourers returned to their homes during this period every year.
Narinder Singh Saggu, president of Focal Point Industrial Units Association, said industries production would usually drop to 40% every year as the labourers would leave, but a lot of hype has been created this time. “Labourers already know that they are safer in Punjab that in any other district,” he added.
Tejinder Singh Bhasin, who runs an auto parts business and is the president of Gadayipur Udyogh Manufacturers’ Association, said labourers were returning to their villages due to reasons such as marriages and other rituals. “Labourers know that if a lockdown is imposed, then their employers would take care of their work and meals at least here in Punjab,” he added.
