Employers lure migrants back to work with flight tickets

Chatra: The tables have turned on the employers who had disowned their migrant workers a few months ago when the lockdown began.
During the heat of the pandemic, the workers were left to fend for themselves and many of them were forced to walk thousands of kilometres, often on an empty stomach, to reach home.
But as the dust of the Covid-19 begins to settle with the country entering into the unlock phase, the employers inevitably have to get the workers back. Some of them in big cities like Mumbai and Bengaluru are now luring their workers with sops, including flight tickets.
Bablu Kumar Singh and Dhananjay Kumar Singh of Kanhachatti block here said they have already received their flight tickets for Mumbai where they were working in a textile company before the lockdown.
“Every day, we get calls from the owner, requesting us to return as soon as possible. There is no proper work in Chatra and we cannot earn much if we stay back here. We will leave for Mumbai soon,” Bablu said.
Mahavir Dangi and Amrit Dangi, both residents of Rajpur panchayat in the block, said they have also received flight ticket offers from Shyam Plastics in Bengaluru, where they were working earlier. “The owner will fly us back to Bengaluru soon,” they said.
Over 30,000 migrants have returned to Chatra during the lockdown but now many of them are getting calls from companies, which are facing acute manpower crunch, to rejoin work as soon as possible. Some manufacturing companies in Hyderabad, Surat and Delhi are also arranging buses to take back the workers. A labourer said, “From the past one month, I did not earn a single penny and I have to go back to Hyderabad.”
The district administration has also started registration of the outbound migrants after a directive from chief minister Hemant Soren so that help can be provided to them in times of need.