E-Paper
Migrants in Mohali being forced to shell out ₹50-100 for online registration
The district administration had asked all migrants willing to go home to register online but many of them are illiterate and have been taking help from shops, where they end up paying but without anyone guiding them further
Desperate to go home, the migrant labourers stuck in Mohali district are being forced to shell out ₹50 to ₹100 to get registered online by the shopkeepers.
Already 24,000 people willing to travel to their native states have registered from Mohali. But even after paying for registration, the migrants are running from pillar to post as no one is guiding them about the procedure and where they can get screened.
The migrants in Zirakpur keep going back and forth between police stations and civic bodies offices only to return back dejected. The contractors with whom these labourers were working have already left. “I paid ₹50 to get online registration done at a shop though some of us even paid ₹100 depending on the place from where we got the registration done. I have received the message regarding registration but do not know what to do next,” said Binu Pandey, a construction labourer who stays in Singhpura.
As per the procedure, the migrants have to register online, after which they will get a message on their registered mobile number. The message has to be shown at the screening centre from where their medical report will be uploaded. After this, another message will be received giving them the date and time to board the train or bus.
He was among 150 migrants who had collected at the tehsil office in order to get help but were rejected.
The district administration had asked all the migrants willing to go home to register online but many of them are illiterate and have been taking help from different documentation centres, where they end up paying but without anyone guiding them further.
“Contractor has deserted us and no one is helping us. We have heard trains and buses have started, but where to board these busses from no one is telling us. We approached the police but they said to go to the tehsil office. Here, too, no one is giving any information,” said Ram Prashad of Nagla village.
“I had gone to the screening centre in Zirakpur, but was asked to get registration done first,” complained Seema Devi of Singhpura.
“I have received information regarding shopkeepers charging for online registration. We are getting it checked and will work a way out so that the migrants do not get harassed,” said Kuldeep Bawa, SDM Dera Bassi.
In Kharar, too, the shopkeepers were charging ₹50 for online registration but after intervention of the authorities it was agreed that no one will charge more than ₹10. The Kharar SDM has also shared the list of nodal officers who will help the migrants willing to go to their native places.
