In UP villages, migrant workers allege harassment upon return
Fear of the coronavirus disease and the stigma associated with the Covid-19 are stalking several Uttar Pradesh villages where migrant workers have returned.
These migrants say that they, and even their family members in some cases, are being singled out, and harassed by villagers who suspect them to be carriers of the infection.
Armed with sticks, a group of villagers last Tuesday allegedly surrounded Shekhar, a migrant worker who returned to his village in Basti district of eastern UP. The villagers were angry because he had ventured out of the primary school, where he was being quarantined, to relieve himself, Shekhar said.
“The villagers were scared of contracting the coronavirus disease, so they didn’t touch me. Otherwise, I would have been killed that day,” Shekhar said.
“They hurled abuses at me and threatened to beat me if I ventured out of the school,” he added. Shekhar said he had not been tested for Covid-19. He also claimed that he did not have any symptoms of the infection.
Misconceptions, lack of information and caste system prevalent in villages had made things worse, some of them alleged.
Ravi Maurya, a migrant worker of Prayagraj, who returned to his village by a ‘Shramik Special’ train, said, “Most of the villagers who have returned home belong to the lower castes. The upper caste villagers harass us more. An upper caste villager started abusing me one day just because I was standing on the roof of my house. Even though I am not infected, the villagers fear that I will spread the coronavirus even from roof of my house.”
Migrants from villages in Barabanki, Ayodhya and other districts also complained of similar harassment.
Dinesh Verma, a migrant worker from Pratapgarh district, alleged that a local grocery shop owner asked his wife to not visit his shop. “I have to request my relatives to help me in procuring things of daily need,” he said.
For its part, the government has asked the village heads to ensure that the migrants adhere to home quarantine.
Pankaj Yadav, husband of the village head of Mahadewa village in Basti, helps his wife in day-to-day work. The task includes asking migrant labourers to stay home and other villagers to stay away from them.
“It would have been much easier to keep the migrant labourers in quarantine at government schools. Ensuring quarantine at home is very difficult and it also leads to problems with other villagers,” he added.