At 39 days, mentally challenged youth has the longest stay in Noida shelter

Noida: On April 5, Rohit, a migrant worker from Jharkhand, was caught by police in the Sector 20 area for defying the lockdown and entering Noida from Delhi, where he worked as a tailor in a firm. The 21-year-old, who is mentally challenged, has been languishing in a Sector 19 shelter home for nearly 40 days now — the longest stay by any migrant labourer at such a centre in the city.
Officials at the shelter home claimed Rohit was beaten up by police, resulting in him going silent.
He only takes the name of his home district in Jharkhand — Sahibganj. The youth, like many others from the same state, is not getting any help as the Jharkhand government has not yet responded to the request of UP authorities to allow the entry of migrant workers.
“He has been here for the longest time. He keeps to himself. He has been eating well but doesn’t ask for more food even if he is served less at times. Now, we have understood his habits and keep ample food for him. He was beaten up by police before being brought here and it seems he is affected by that. When he had come here, he would become anxious hearing the name of police,” a shelter home supervisor said.
Talking to TOI, Rohit said in broken sentences that he wanted to return home and wants to see his younger brother Suresh, from whom he got separated when he was picked up by police.
“I came from Delhi’s Shakur Basti. I worked as a tailor. My brother used to work with me for the past five years. Help me reach my home. I want to be there with my family.”
Officials said they had planned to send him to Khagaria, the last district of Bihar neighbouring Sahibganj. “The UP government has been arranging for transportation of migrants from Bihar by dropping them off till the UP-Bihar border. We had earlier planned to drop him at the Bihar-Jharkhand border. But we shelved the plan as he could get lost if Jharkhand authorities don’t take him in,” said another official.
When contacted, ADM (administration) Diwakar Singh said while labourers are being sent to the UP-Bihar border, it was not possible to arrange a bus for him alone. “Migrants from Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Odisha are being dropped off till the borders of their respective states,” he said.