Amid allegations of police lathi-charge by migrant workers going back home and utter chaos, around 3,000 of them left the district, in a Shramik Express train to Bihar and in 26 private buses to Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, on Thursday.
The chaos resulted as workers in huge numbers, more than the train’s capacity, turned up at the railway ground, the designated collection point. This was the third Shramik Express from the city, and was to go to Motihari in Bihar without stopping, but workers from other states had also crowded the area around the railway station. Finally, 1,521 migrant workers left on this train.
The indications for chaos were there on Wednesday itself, when a large crowd had gathered outside the railway ground, before the administration finally managed to send them to the DAV College and the Government Polytechnic College to spend the night. Even as they were taken to the railway station on Thursday morning, more workers had arrived from other parts of the city.
Akhilesh Kumar of Purnea in Bihar, who worked as painter in Bathinda, said, “The police lathi-charged us. I was injured in the leg.”
{{/usCountry}}Akhilesh Kumar of Purnea in Bihar, who worked as painter in Bathinda, said, “The police lathi-charged us. I was injured in the leg.”
{{/usCountry}}Ankit Kumar, from Gopalganj in Bihar, who missed the train in the chaos, also claimed police lathi-charge.
Bathinda SSP Nanak Singh, however, said, “No force was used on workers. They had arrived in numbers that were more than the train’s capacity, so some were sent back.”
With workers from Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand left behind, they were sent back in 26 private buses. Bathinda deputy commissioner B Srinivasan said, “Workers arranged these buses themselves and paid for travel. We only issued them travel passes.”
The worker Ankit claimed that workers were so desperate to go home that they paid Rs 2,000 each for the bus up to Bihar border and Rs 1,200 each to be dropped at the Uttar Pradesh border.
100th Shramik
Express leaves state
The 100th Shramik Express from the state, the 39th from Ludhiana since the first train chugged out from Jalandhar on May 5, left the state on Thursday. Its destination was Mau in Uttar Pradesh.
To date, 1.35 lakh migrants, including 1.2 lakh adults and 15,000 children, have left for home states. Trains are leaving the state from Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala, Mohali, Amritsar, Ferozepur, Sirhind and Bathinda, with each carrying around 1,200 passengers. Eight trains would depart from Ludhiana on Friday. On Thursday, rain was a major inconvenience for departing workers, assembled at the Guru Nanak Stadium, as seven such trains departed.
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Strap/Blurb
Migrant workers allege police lathi-charge, a charge the department has denied; finally, the train to Bihar leaves with over 1,500, with those from UP and Jharkhand hiring 26 private buses to take them to their state borders