Migrants head home amid lockdown fear

Bengaluru: Amid a steep rise in number of Covid-19 cases in Bengaluru, migrant workers are heading back home fearing an impending lockdown in the state even as railway authorities say there have been “no extra demand for trains”

Bengaluru: Amid a steep rise in number of Covid-19 cases in Bengaluru, migrant workers are heading back home fearing an impending lockdown in the state even as railway authorities say there have been “no extra demand for trains”.

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Karnataka recorded 21,794 new infections and 149 fatalities on Tuesday.

Jitendra Thakur, a barber from Samastipur Bihar, staying in a shared room in the Bengaluru’s Babusapalya, said his employer has been trying to convince him that there will not be a lockdown in Karnataka but he doesn’t want to take a chance. “Everyone I speak with says there will not be a lockdown, but that’s what they said last time also. There was no warning before they stopped the trains,” he said sitting on the plastic chair, which was to be handed over to his friend.

Thakur was among the many migrant workers who left Bengaluru during the exodus in May 2020. He returned to Bengaluru in October after he got a call from his employer. “I was lucky that I got a Shramik train last time, but if that happens again, I’m not sure if I’ll be lucky again,” he added.

The availability of transportation is the difference between last year and this said Chandrabhushan Sahani, a carpenter with an online platform and who had hitchhiked to Bihar from Bengaluru during the 2020 lockdown. He said that he had no choice but to return to Bengaluru. “There were not enough jobs back home, so we returned. Now, trains are still running. That is a good sign. We can go anytime we need. But we are unsure if they will shut it down. There is a lot of talk about a lockdown,” he said.

A senior office-bearer of the Karnataka Hotels and Restaurants Association, who didn’t want to be named, said that hotel owners have been going the extra mile to convince their employees to stay back. “The news that coming in, may it be the lockdown in Mumbai or speculations over the lockdown in Bengaluru, getting them worked up. We hope there is a firm stand from the government soon. If the employees start to leave, it is going to hurt the business,” the person added.

Gayathri Vasudevan, CEO and co-founder of LabourNet, a Bengaluru-based social enterprise working in the unorganised sector said that those who left Bengaluru during the last lockdown are still returning. “Labourers who returned during the last lockdown are returning to Bengaluru. This has been going on for several months. Yes, there are some who are returning to their home state as well, but it is not in a large number like what is happening in New Delhi or Mumbai” she said.

She, however, added that the fear of the lockdown could adversely affect this process. “A sense of fear of a lockdown among workers, this could lead to many those who left during Holi and other festivals not returning,” Vasudevan said.

The Bengaluru division of the South Western Railway (SWR) said there was no extra demand for the trains until last week, and this week, they added four additional trains due to high demand.

A senior SWR official on condition of anonymity said that while two of the trains will be operating to West Bengal, the other two will run till Assam and Bihar. “Naturally, these trains have been added because there is a demand for them. However, I can’t tell if there is an exodus happening from Bengaluru. As far as the department concerned, we have added extra trains due to the demand,” he said.

However, over last week, Ashok Kumar Verma, Divisional Railway Manager, Bengaluru Division clarified that there was no rush at the railway station and added that the department is running enough trains to cater to the demand.

Last Wednesday, he said, “As per the request from the Karnataka government, we had operated 20 extra trains in the view of Ugadi, festival holidays and strike by State Road Transport Corporation employees. We are ready to run more trains if required. There is no extra demand for trains apart from this.”