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Stranded labourers in Pune restless, desperate to travel back home
Stranded migrant workers living in labour camps across Pune expect a long battle for a chance to travel back home, but restlessness and desperation has kicked in.
Stranded migrant workers living in labour camps across Pune expect a long battle for a chance to travel back home, but restlessness and desperation has kicked in.
Despite government agencies and NGOs providing them with adequate food and shelter, the labourers don’t want to stay in Pune any longer due to the fear of the spread of the Sars-Cov-2 virus which causes the Covid-19 infection. Ashok Das who is staying at a labour camp in Katraj said that he and his friends are from West Bengal and want to travel back home to their village.
“We are stuck in Pune due to the lockdown. Besides food packets, we are not getting any proper facilities in the labour camp, each passing day has become difficult for us, so we want to go back home now,” Das said.
One of the primary hurdles, the migrant labourers face, is getting a medical certificate from an authorised health professional.
According to Vaishali Patkar, president of the Aundh Vikas Mandal which is working in the interest of migrant labourers in the city, the number of people wanting to avail the certificate is huge.
“There are technical issues which the labourers are facing while filling up the form online, while some of them do not have Aadhar card and are not able to register. For others, there is a lot of confusion over the orders issued by various government agencies, which needs to be clarified,” Patkar said.
Another activist, Keshav Mandhare from Katraj believes that the conditions inside the labour camps are not good.
“Though they are getting regular food, but all of them are worried about their future stay in Pune. Now most of them have applied to go back to their states, they want the government to arrange a train for them and also provide safety. We are trying our best to help them out, but their patience is now spiralling,” Mandhare said.
Credai Pune Metro has been helping migrant workers in all possible ways and providing food, but since the labourers do not have work, they have become restless, according to Suhas Merchant, president of Credai Pune Metro.
“Since there is no work on the construction site, naturally these workers want to go back home. How long can builders sustain in this crisis situation? There is a need of proper coordination between different governing bodies like municipal corporations, police department, district administration and others, as everyone issues different orders. So we are not able to start the construction work,” Merchant said.
