Race against time for migrant labourers to quit Goa

Panaji: Thousands of migrant labourers working in different sectors in Goa have been queuing up before government offices to submit application forms so as to seek permission to leave the state owing to the nationwide lockdown imposed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

These migrants have lived in the outskirts of the state capital and various other places in Goa, and have been desperate to go back to their home states since the countrywide lockdown was imposed in the second fortnight of March this year.

Apprehensions have been expressed over possible labour shortage in the state if a large number of migrant workers leave. 

For decades, the migrants have oiled the wheels of Goan economy and their exodus could cripple it.

Reliable sources said that over 80,000 migrant workers have applied before the government to seek permits to leave the state.

Long queues were witnessed on Monday at the North Goa district collectorate office, sub-divisional magistrate office and offices of panchayats of Merces, ST Cruz and Taleigao.

The labourers living at Bambolim, St Cruz, Merces, Taleigao, Caranzalem, Bhatulem, Mala and other villages of Tiswadi taluka are busy in filling in the forms and submitting them to the authorities.

Most of the migrants, who have resided in Goa with their families, want to quit the state altogether and at all costs.

“If everything comes back to normalcy then we will think of returning to the state for work,” a migrant worker said, adding that he can’t survive in Goa as there has been no work and no money.

Police personnel are doing their best in helping the migrants maintain social distancing at the government offices. The cops are also distributing application forms to the workers.

Many workers said that monsoon is approaching and the situation will worsen.

“There will be no jobs and no money in Goa in the monsoon,” they reckoned, adding that they can at least farm their fields in their native states.