Elation can be the doorway to despair if the mind suddenly sees what has to be achieved is immeasurably bigger than what has been.
Balaji Sampath, founder, AidIndia expressed a thought somewhat similar, while trying to put two recent successful campaigns to get migrant labourers back home, into perspective.
With his team of volunteers, Balaji had ensured that one batch of 300 migrants went to Bihar by the government’s special train, and another to West Bengal by a bus organised by AidIndia volunteers.
For every batch that is sent home, there are so many other batches that are waiting for a sendoff, explains Balaji, and the issue is much larger than what volunteers and NGOs can handle.
The achievement is real, and the sense of accomplishment justified, one could allow themselves that, but the fact remains that every volunteering effort is bound to be extremely marginal in its impact, because the issue is huge and the numbers massive.
“Ultimately, it is the government’s responsibility and they have to take it up in full swing; only the government has the ability and infrastructure to ensure such a large-scale operation,” says Balaji.
Besides, Balaji points out, the efforts to result ratio is ludicrously disproportionate.
His team identified one group of migrant labourers at Alapakkam, near Porur, and had them sent by the government train to Bihar. Between those two operative terms — identification and sendoff — lie a story of continual coordination, counselling and periods of frustrating wait, explains Balaji.
Balaji was coordinating with the government officials, and a train journey seemed to be in sight, buoying up the migrant workers’ spirits, and then the government process got extraordinarily delayed, and there were no assurances anymore in sight.
“Out of desperation, the migrant workers would keep calling, every half an hour. They would pass the phone around, and everyone would want to hear a word of reassurance that the wait for the train would be over soon. I could perfectly empathise with them. And then finally, there was a call from an official, giving us a day when the 300 migrants could board their train,” relates Balaji.
There is the other case of a group of 20 migrant workers being sent by bus to West Bengal.
“Unexpectedly, the well-meaning person who offered to sponsor the travel costs had to back off, due to some challenges. So, we asked our volunteers to mobilise the funds. Besides this problem, there were two others on our plate — the employer would not allow the migrants to go, and the government ePasses were getting delayed due to a technical problem,” explains Balaji, adding that when all these issues got resolved and bus left carrying the migrants on their way back home, it was a huge relief.