As Goa economy opens, migrants get second thoughts about going home

PANAJI: Thousands of migrant workers from across Goa are setting out, at times even by foot, to district shelter homes and railway stations in frantic attempts to return to their native states. But as the situation continues to remain grim in many states and economic activities resume in Goa, some of them are now changing their minds about going home.
Fearing packed trains, the risk being exposed to infection in quarantine facilities and other difficulties that await them on their journey, some are withdrawing their registration to return.
Azim Shah, who works as a salesman in a store in Mapusa, said that he had turned desperate to get back to Mumbai when Lockdown 1.0 was announced. However, as the situation in Mumbai is showing little improvement, Shah said he has changed his plan.
“Initially, when I really wanted to go back with my mother and sister, no one came forward to help us,” he said. “Now that things are worse in Mumbai, we are being called by voluntary groups. The store I work for was shut, and we had nothing to sustain us. We used up money saved for my sister Ayesha’s wedding to buy provisions. Only once did a voluntary group provide us with some essentials.” Shah has now returned to work, but is unsure if his salary will be paid in full.
However, he said that his employer is currently paying him a small amount for daily expenditure and he prefers to survive on it rather than risking travel back to Mumbai.
“My brother and the rest of the family live in a slum,” said Shah, who lives in rented premises in Moira. “We will also be put under quarantine once we return, and there will probably be infected people there. My mother is diabetic. I don’t want to take a risk. We have faced great difficulties here. We will have to gather money from scratch for my sister’s wedding, and are waiting for the groom to agree to postpone the wedding till November. But we are surviving.”
He isn’t the only who has changed his plans. A citizen volunteer told TOI that a migrant worker expressed fear of taking the train back home after he heard the news of a death on the Goa-Jharkhand Shramik Special.
Of the 70-odd persons from Maharashtra and Karnataka who had initially registered with panchayats to return, more than 11, by Sunday, told citizen-driven voluntary groups that they abandoned their plans to go back.
Sadashiv Kasadekar, a native of Nagpur, has been living in Goa since 2012. Like Shah, he too views travel back home now as a risk to him and his wife. “The area I come from is a red zone,” he said. “I would rather wait now. I would prefer to go back by a regular train, I do not want us packed on a Shramik Special. I work in housekeeping at a hotel, and my employer has not stopped paying my salary. I have also received some ration from the government. Why should I leave?”
Many of whom are willing to go through the tedious process and risk the long journey to their native state are doing so due to family emergencies. For instance, Nilu Pawar from Bijapur, whose mother has fallen sick and needs someone to care for her.
Others, like Asif Abdul Dudamani, have changed their plans after he says he was told he is not eligible for a spot on the Sharmik Special train.
“I have been living in Goa for many years, and all my documents have a Goa address,” Dudamani said. “I am still trying to send my sisters back to Karnataka. They had come here just 8 months ago to work as labourers. The car wash centre I was working in has shut. Now, I am living on essentials supplied by voluntary groups, and hoping for small labour jobs as things are normalizing. I can rough it out here.”