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No place like home, want to work in Uttarakhand, say migrants
Even those working in multinational companies hold the same view after returning to Uttarakhand.
At the Lalkuan railway station in Nainital district on Sunday night, 1,400 migrant workers who travelled on a special train from Ahmedabad seemed delirious with joy at just being in their home state.
Bhola Dutt, resident of a village in Champawat district said “I worked in a steel plant in Ahmedabad. I faced so many problems financially due to the lockdown. My landlord took rent till May 14, while we had been sitting home since the lockdown started in March. We were not being given salaries and there was the constant worry of how will we would eat or live. We are now counting on the Uttarakhand government to give us employment opportunities here as we do not want to go back.”
Vikas Chamola, a resident of Dharchula in Pithoragarh district said “Lockdown taught that our home state is much safer in comparison to other places in the country. I worked in a hotel in Ahmedabad and after the lockdown was imposed, no one helped me and I was not even getting paid. I will do anything here in my own state, but not go outside now.”
Even those working in multinational companies hold the same view after returning to Uttarakhand.
Mohan Singh, a resident of Someshwar in Almora district who worked in a multinational company said that in the past one month he spent anxious days and sleepless nights wondering how we will return home.
“We stopped getting our salaries as the office was closed and securing every meal seemed like a major task. We hope that the Uttarakhand government gives us employment here now,” he said.
On Monday, another 1,595 migrants returned to Nainital from Surat. Savin Bansal, district magistrate Nainital said “Around 1,595 migrants arrived from Surat and each passenger was screened at the station itself.”
Out of the 1595, 125 migrants were from Nainital, 417 from Bageshwar, 116 from Champawat, 197 from Almora, 336 from Pithoragarh, 131 from Chamoli, 17 from Dehradun, 14 from Uttarkashi, 125 from Rudraprayag, 51 from Tehri Garhwal, 56 from Pauri Garhwal, 35 from US Nagar and 14 from Haridwar.
Bansal said that every migrant was given water bottles, juice, masks and food packets before they were sent to their respective destinations in 61 buses.
