Migrants returning to Mumbai in hope of a new dawn

A large number of migrant workers who returned home during the COVID-19 lockdown have begun heading back to their previous places of work in hope of a new beginning, realising that they have no jobs matching their skills in their native places.

Two trains leave Gorakhpur daily for Mumbai and one every alternate day, and they are largely carrying migrant workers to their destination.

Kushinagar Express and Gorakhpur Mumbai LTT Sant Kabir Dham COVID-19 super fast special trains go daily to Mumbai, while Awadh COVID-19 special, running between Gorakhpur and Bandra terminals, leave Gorakhpur on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Although the trains heading to Mumbai are not still fully filled, they head back largely carrying migrants workers who returned home in panic and haste.

Industries in Maharashtra’s green zones have started functioning and calling back workers who returned home during the lockdown.

Once the workers reach Mumbai, they will be stamped at railway stations and after spending 14 days in home-quarantine, they will be able to resume their work.

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Mahrajganj native Satyendra Kushwaha, while waiting at Gorakhpur railway station for his train to Mumbai, told PTI, “I was working in a lamination company between Pune and Mumbai. My family lives in my village. During lockdown I became jobless and my savings started decreasing. A month back I reached my village, partly walking and partly taking a lift in a truck.”

“But I'm returning now as my factory is calling me back and there is no work for me here akin to my skills,” he said.

Another migrant worker, Ram Manohar (40) of Pipraich area in Gorakhpur, was returning to Nasik with his wife and two children.

“I was working in a bag manufacturing firm. I became jobless after the lockdown. In my village here, my two brothers and their families live in our small ancestral house and do farming on a small piece of land, and also work as farm labourers,” said Manohar.

“I was earning well in Nasik. I realised very soon that I can't survive here. Now my company is calling me back as manufacturing has resumed there,” he added.

Another worker, Sumit Sharma, specialized in operating a gas cutter equipment and working earlier in Mumbai, narrated how he ran away from Mumbai and reached his village in Deoria 29 days back.

“I was desperate to reach home as there was no work and survival was difficult. The operation in my company has resumed and fortunately, I got a call from the factory where I was working. I am returning there, hoping that everything will become normal as before. There are many others like me who will return within a week,” he said. 

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