Migrant workers have no info on Sahayata app

Utsav Basu | TNN | Apr 22, 2020, 05:00 IST

Kolkata: Chief minister Hemant Soren recently launched the Jharkhand Corona Sahayata mobile app to assist migrant labourers from Jharkhand stranded in other parts of the country.
While the app aims to identify needy migrants and help them with one-time monetary relief, issues ranging from lack of awareness and poor internet connectivity seem to have defeated its purpose, at least in some places.
In West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas, two brothers from Mathakesho village under Saraiyahat police station in Dumka district living at a slum in Panihati have not heard about the app. Speaking to TOI over phone on Tuesday, Manoj Das (27) snapped, “We haven’t heard of any such app.” Manoj said that only help he has received is from a local NGO that gave him some food after he stood in a queue for hours.
Manoj’s elder brother Mukesh (28) said, “I do have a smartphone, but how will do I install the app when I do not have an active internet data pack?” He added, “We are masons. We have some money left with us, but we certainly cannot spent it on luxuries like mobile data.”
The brothers depend on their cousin Kamal Kishore (30), who hails from the same village, for food and other necessities. “My employer is kind enough to give me some food at times. I bring back some of the food for these two,” Kishore said, adding that the food provided to him is not enough for three people.
An electrician by profession, Kishore fears there will be no work for him even after the lockdown is lifted. “I will go home once train services resume. We have some land and I plan to grow vegetables in my village,” Kishore added.
Meanwhile, in Bihar, Sibu Lakra (45) from Palamu district, is stranded near a brick kiln in Rajapakar on the Hajipur-Mahua Road in Vaishali district. He said, “Nobody told us about any app. I was to leave for my hometown on March 30, but got stuck due to the lockdown.”
Anisha Tigga (50), a mother of four, shared a similar plight. “I don’t know of any app. We thought that the lockdown will be lifted on April 14, but it seems we will exhaust whatever we have earned here as there is no work for us.”
(With inputs from Ramashankar in Patna)