Delhi farmer buys plane tickets to send 10 workers to their homes in Bihar
The workers said they can’t believe they are going to their home - not walking or cycling thousands of kilometres, or scrambling for a seat on a bus or train - but on a plane.
A farmer in Delhi sent 10 of his workers home on a flight to their home state Bihar on Thursday.
Pappan Gehlot, a mushroom farmer, paid for their flight tickets because the migrant workers have toiled for him for the last 20 years.
“We tried to book trains tickets but were unable to do it. Then we thought these people have been working with us for over 20 years, their journey should be safe. So we got them medically examined and arranged flight tickets for them,” Pappu’s brother Niranjan Gehlot told news agency ANI.
The workers said their dream came true. “I had never thought I will get to sit in an aeroplane, our employer made the arrangements for us,” said one of the workers as he arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport to board the 6 am flight to Patna on Thursday.
The workers said they can’t believe they are going to their villages in Samastipur - not walking or cycling thousands of kilometres, or scrambling for a seat on a bus or train - but on a plane.
“I never imagined in my life that I will be traveling in a plane. I don’t have words to express my happiness. But I am also little bit nervous about what I have to do when we reach the airport tomorrow,” Lakhinder Ram, who will be returning with his son, told news agency PTI.
Ram, 50, who has been working for Gehlot for 27 years, said the farmer has been taking care of their food and accommodation since the lockdown began on March 25.
Gehlot has a mushroom farm in Delhi’s Tigipur village. He bought the tickets worth Rs 68,000 and also gave each worker Rs 3,000 so they don’t face any problems when they reach their home state.
Gehlot said that he has been doing mushroom farming since 1993 which has a season between august and March.
These workers wanted to go to their village in the first week of April, but couldn’t because of the lockdown.
