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Desperate to return home, workers converge at railway station in Goa
Although the Central Government has relaxed norms to allow for stranded people to return to their native states in buses, the labourers converged at the Pernem Railway Station in North Goa in the hope that they could board a train. They stayed put for a few hours before police dispersed them.
In scenes reminiscent of the gathering of labourers in Mumbai and Surat but on a smaller scale, around a 100 migrant labourers defied the lockdown gathered outside a railway station in Pernem in North Goa following rumours that trains have been arranged to take them home, police said.
Although the Central Government has relaxed norms to allow for stranded people to return to their native states in buses, the labourers converged at the Pernem Railway Station in North Goa in the hope that they could board a train. They stayed put for a few hours before police dispersed them.
“The labourers were from Betim (a jetty and hub for fishworkers) and they were hoping to get home. However, with the help of the local police we arranged transport to take them back home,” police Inspector Sandesh Chodankar said.
Thousands of labourers stranded in Goa because of the lockdown to check the spread of Covid-19 are becoming increasingly desperate to return home after having lost their jobs. While the state government has set up labour camps, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant conceded that despite being provided with food and shelter, the labourers were pining for home and growing frustrated.
The workers hail from different states including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
The Goa government has meanwhile begun preparation to help stranded persons return to their home states.
“Transit passes for stranded migrant workers will be issued by the Goa administration from Friday. All those who have the money to pay for their journey, we will send them first,” Michael Lobo, a minister in the Goa government, told reporters.
“We are worried about these people. They are just moving around here and there in search of food and groceries. Some of them do not have money. We plan to send them back,” Lobo said adding that the people were mainly employed in the tourism industry either as handymen for beach shack operators or as waiters, dishwashers, etc in the tourism industry.
For those who cannot pay for their travel, the Goa government will reach out to the respective states where the people hail from to help them return home.
The Goa government has directed those who wish to return home to visit the collector’s office or apply for a transit pass online.
