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Amid Lockdown, Paid Rs 3000 Bus Fare to Go Home: Daily-Wage Worker

4 workers crossed 4 states without a curfew pass but were caught just 100 km away from home.

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Video Editor: Purnendu Pritam

“We hired a bus and each person paid Rs 3,000. It was a private bus.”
Tahal Mahto, Daily-wage labourer 

About 60 daily-wage workers from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, desperate to go home, hired a private bus, each paying a whopping Rs 3,000 as bus fare, to reach Jharkhand.

However, when they reached Jharkhand border, they were not allowed to go further. Instead, they were all sent to the nearest makeshift quarantine facility in Barhi Jail.

“We have lost all our savings. We had no option but to pay because of the situation.”
Guddu, Daily-wage labourer 
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More than 380 migrant labourers have been quarantined in the jail, which is new and yet to be inaugurated. Since it is not near any village, the administration thought it could serve as a quarantine facility.

“We had no work for 4-5 days. We thought that the lockdown is likely to be extended so we decided to come back, and we were caught.”
Tahal Mahto, Daily-wage labourer 

While some workers were unhappy, some accepted it as necessary for their family’s safety.

“I myself went to get tested at Barhi Hospital. No one caught me, I got myself tested at the hospital. I thought it would be better to get tested. Since we took 1-2 days to reach here (from Patna) we thought that if we get infected then our families would be at risk too.”
Sukhdev Yadav, Daily-wage labourer 

Sukhdev, the sole bread-winner in his family, said they are struggling to make ends meet. At the same time, he is aware of the danger posed by coronavirus and how quickly it is spreading. Hence, he decided to get tested.

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Travelled 1,640 Km Without Curfew Pass, Were Caught Just 100 Km Away From Home

Balram Kumar Verma works in a shop in Surat. He left for Jharkhand on 2 April. He and three colleagues travelled on two bikes. They crossed four states: Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, without a curfew pass. They said they were stopped by the police at every border, their details were recorded and they were then allowed to proceed.

“At each border, they were asking for our details like name, phone number, address, our bike licence plate number and allowed us to move ahead.”
Balram Kumar Verma, Migrant worker

However, just a hundred kilometres away from their home in Jharkhand’s Giridih district, they were caught at the border by Jharkhand Police.

Despite knowing they could get caught at the border, they had undertaken the risky journey, worth nearly 1,750 kilometres, as the were running out of money.

“We were not able to arrange food for ourselves. Everything is shut in Surat. Our shop, where I work, has been shut since 19 March. The shop owner said that because of the lockdown, the business is down so he refused to take responsibility for us.”
Balram Kumar Verma, Migrant worker
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Balram and his three colleagues were paid March’s salary. But they didn’t have enough money to make rent and decided to return home.

“Whatever money we had, we thought that if we continue to stay in Surat then we would be left with no money after 10 days. Hence, we decided to leave for home with whatever we had.”
Balram Kumar Verma, Migrant worker

Did you have money to pay rent?

No, we did not have enough for rent. The government ordered that no one should ask for rent but my landlord took rent anyway.

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Jharkhand Police sent them to quarantine facility in Barhi Jail. Balram requested the police to send him to a facility in Giridih so that his family could at least come to meet them. But his request was turned down by the police.

Migrant workers in Barhi Jail said they are provided food, water and space to rest. But while most Indians evacuated from abroad get housed in Indo-Tibetan Border Police camps, the question for the government is: Is class a factor in who gets quarantined where?

(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)

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Topics:  Ranchi   Jharkhand   coronavirus 

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