Continuous server error disappoints Delhi migrant workers attempting to register on portal

Migrant workers are supposed to fill an online form on the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board’s (DUSIB) website. Registrations began on May 4.

Sia Shankar Rai (56), a migrant worker, has been trying register on the Delhi government’s website to go home to Chapra in Bihar for four days now.

Migrant workers travelling to Madhya Pradesh walk from Ghazipur to their hometowns, during lockdown in New Delhi, India, on Friday, May 8, 2020.(Amal KS/HT PHOTO)

But he hasn’t even been able to access the portal. “It just isn’t working,” he said.

Sia Shankar came to Delhi two days before the Janata Curfew on March 22 and now lives in Najafgarh’s Dhansa village. He has been coming to the Capital to work in the fields during the harvest season every year for nearly a decade now. “But I couldn’t earn much here this time and have run out of money. My family back home is also finding it difficult to make ends meet,” Sia Shankar said.

He got his hopes up when the Delhi government decided to send migrant workers back to their home states last week, and more so when a train with 1,200 migrants left for Muzaffarpur in Bihar on Friday.

Migrant workers are supposed to fill an online form on the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board’s (DUSIB) website. Registrations began on May 4.

Bipin Rai, member DUSIB, said, “They are supposed to enter basic details such as the number of family members, name of their home town, and others, along with their identity card.”

But when people try to open the link, they said they are met with a server error.

Pradeep Dagar, a resident of Dhansa village has been taking care of Sia Shakar Rai and 10 other migrant workers since the lockdown began. “We have been trying register their names in the list of people who want to go back to Bihar. But the link on the DUSIB website has not working for the past few days, and we can’t get through the nodal officer,” Dagar said.

He added, “We have been giving them everyday essentials because they don’t have much money left. The government should do something for people stranded in various parts of the city.”

A senior DUSIB official, however, said the registration process is on. “There are a lot of people trying to register at the same time on the weblink, which has caused some problems. Ever since we started the registration process, we have got 17,000 applications from families who want to go back to Bihar, which adds up to around 45,000 people,” the official said.

When contacted, Delhi labour minister Gopal Rai’s office said the priority is to send those living in government-run shelter homes back to their native states.

“Migrant workers who are living in various parts of the city and want to go home will be considered in the second phase. Currently, our priority is to send back those living in our shelter homes, and want to return,” an official at Gopal Rai’s office said.

“Those who are not living in shelter homes will be informed by their area’s district magistrate about travel arrangements. Currently, we are sending people who are in our shelter homes on priority basis,” Bipin Rai said.

While Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday urged migrant workers to stay back in the city, assuring them that there will be jobs very soon, people have been getting restless.

A senior official with the chief minister’s office said that lots of people are applying to go back to their homes, that’s why there’s load on the server.

Bhola Rai (42), who has a family of six to feed in Bihar’s Sonepur, said, “Our family needs us. We couldn’t earn much here. We don’t know what the situation will be in the next few months. We want to be with our families right now.”