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After CM’s appeal, Bihar braces for another rush of migrants
PATNA With chief minister Nitish Kumar issuing an appeal to Bihar natives working in other states to return home at the earliest if they so wished, the state government’s labour department, which has so far been relaxed with a modest flow of people coming from outside, has started gearing up for the rush
PATNA
With chief minister Nitish Kumar issuing an appeal to Bihar natives working in other states to return home at the earliest if they so wished, the state government’s labour department, which has so far been relaxed with a modest flow of people coming from outside, has started gearing up for the rush.
“CM’s appeal likely to have an impact and migrants may start returning in large numbers, as the situation is turning worse in Delhi, Maharasthra and other parts, where most of them go for livelihood,” said labour minister Jibesh Mishra, adding the disaster management department (DMD) has already got into action..
“We don’t have any figures, but what we have gathered from other sources is that not more than 2-2.5-lakh people may have returned so far, but this could gather momentum following the CM’s appeal,” he said.
CM’s appeal to migrants to return early is being viewed as a hint of tougher measures in the days to come should the current Covid-19 wave persist.
“I have asked the labour enforcement offices (LEOs) to keep track of migrants’ flow at the block level. The old system of putting the migrants in the quarantine centres will be revived to check the spread in the rural areas,” the minister said.
Mishra said a toll-free number has also been announced for the migrant workers to get information and help.
Last year, there was a sea of humanity in the bordering towns like Nawada, Gaya, Kaimur, Banka, Gopalganj, Siwan and Champaran, as panicky migrant labourers had started pouring in through whatever mode they could from Delhi, UP, West Bengal, Haryana, Punjab, Chhatisgarh, Orisha, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh etc. The government estimates had put their number at around 25 lakh, of which around 15 lakh returned by special trains and 10 lakh by buses and other modes.
“With sources of their livelihood closing down, migrants suddenly become alien outside and want to return home. If they choose to return, it could pose challenge to the government on multiple fronts. The pandemic has aggravated the rate of unemployment and created an unprecedented situation of forced return of migrants to their native states. Now a repeat could be more difficult,” said social analyst DM Diwakar.
Citing a 2020 report “Mapping Inequality in Bihar” by AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies and Oxfam India, he said that despite double digit growth, Bihar remains at the bottom in terms of development indicators, grappling with land, assets and income inequality, low productivity, limited opportunities of decent work and low demographic development with inter-state and inter-district disparities.
