Back home, but uncertain future stares at migrants

NEW DELHI: Vijay Korwa and 18 others from Kusmhi village, home to a tribal community in Jharkhand’s Garwah, were among thousands of migrant labourers who lined up at Anand Vihar terminal on March 27 to catch a bus to escape hunger and uncertainty arising soon after the lockdown began. Partly by bus, some distance by truck and finally walking from Allahabad to Jharkhand, these men made it back in early April only to soon find themselves in the midst of a fresh battle for survival.
Just as special trains arrived over the past few days with migrants from different states, for those who reached home earlier, the road remains insecure. Currently in the refuge of their families, they are hoping to make a return journey to the cities once the lockdown is eased. Till then it is mostly about working as farm labour, collecting wood from jungles and making do with the quota of coarse rice. They don’t need to pay hefty rents or fear being placed in camps but the wait is lengthening each day.
The dilemma of many like him was captured by volunteers from Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN). According to Anandita Adhikari from SWAN, around one-third of those the volunteers spoke to in the second phase of the lockdown wanted to go home immediately after the lock down ends. Around 41% of 580 migrants said they will stay on in the city as they are anxious about unpaid rent, loans and have no cash to travel or survive even at home. Roughly 16 percent planned to leave and then return after some time, and about 13 percent planned to find work back in their hometown while about 5 percent wanted to earn some money and leave.
Vijay, 28, said in the month since he arrived with swollen feet, he has been worried about whether he will get the wages that the contractor at the construction site in Delhi owes him. He has been working for 10 years in Delhi and the fear of sores in his feet cannot stop him from seeking a return to work.
Like Vijay, 19-year-old Nageshwar Nishad who worked as a carpenter returned to his village in Maharajganj in UP from Hyderabad on April
29. Back home he sees his ‘out of work’ father increasingly restless and his mother working hard along with three sisters. Nishad plans to look for work closer home once the lockdown eases.