Migrant artisans mortgaged plots for loans to travel home to found them destroyed by Amphan

Mafizul, a migrant artisan working in south Delhi’s Shahpur Jat, left for his village in West Bengal’s Medinapur on May 18. He travelled aboard a private bus he

Mafizul, a migrant artisan working in south Delhi’s Shahpur Jat, left for his village in West Bengal’s Medinapur on May 18. He travelled aboard a private bus he hired using the money his family had sent him by mortgaging their land, not knowing that he would find his home in ruins three days later. The 35-year-old artisan was among thousands of people who lost their homes in Cyclone Amphan, which hit West Bengal on May 20.

Mafizul, a migrant artisan working in south Delhi’s Shahpur Jat, left for his village in West Bengal’s Medinapur on May 18.

Mafizul and several other artisans employed in embroidery units in Shahpur Jat — which houses many designer clothing stores—had spent every last penny to hire private buses to return to their hometowns last month when they were rendered jobless amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Each of them had spent ₹4,200 for a seat on a bus that was travelling to West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar. Some of them had to resort to taking loans or mortgaging a piece of land to arrange money for their travel.

However, many of these artisans, who returned to the Keshpur area of west Mediapur district in West Bengal, now have nowhere to go since their houses were destroyed in the cyclone. Speaking over the phone on Tuesday, Mafizul said that his family waited for two months for the trains to start functioning after the lockdown was announced. “Every day was like a battle for us without work. When my mother had a heart attack, my brother mortgaged our land and sent money to us to book a bus ticket and come home. It took three days to reach home. The cyclone hit our area a day before we reached and destroyed our house. We have nowhere to go now. My ailing mother is living at a relative’s place. My wife, two kids and I have now also come to stay with a relative after completing our 14-day quarantine. We do not know what to do. We don’t have resources to build even a mud house again. All the money we had was exhausted during the two months of lockdown in Delhi,” he said.

Mujibur Rahman, another artisan from the locality, said, “It took so much effort to reach home in search of peace but we did not know we would be left without a home here as well. I have also lost my cattle in the cyclone. I am an embroider and I have not done any other work in my life. I don’t know what will I do if I don’t get my job back in Delhi.” His family is now living under a makeshift tent, he said.

Sunil Kumar Aledia, a social activist, who works for the homeless in Delhi, said that he is in contact with 20 such families of migrants who have recently returned to West Bengal’s West Medinapur district and found their homes and agricultural lands destroyed in the cyclone. “They have nowhere to go now. Many of them have spent all their savings and even took loans to travel home. Now they are again struggling in the aftermath of the cyclone. We are raising funds for them now and we request those in the embroidery business to come forward and offer them work,” he said.

When contacted, the Block Development Officer (BDO) of Keshpur Deepal Bose said that the administration is monitoring the situation. “We are conducting inquiries to assess the loss caused by Amphan. In my block, more than 600 houses were destroyed. We are providing all possible relief to the people affected by the cyclone,” he said.