Many migrant labourers returning home to Jharkhand are spending their last bit of savings to pay train fares during the lockdown, the state’s resolve to reimburse “despatch states” seemingly hitting coordination hurdles.
Around 1,200 labourers, who on Wednesday reached Hatia (Ranchi) from Kerala around 11.45am, had to pay Rs 830 each for tickets.
Around 1,200 more who reached Dhanbad from Surat in Gujarat also said they paid Rs 715 each to an NGO for the tickets.
Mangreshwar Oraon, a migrant labourer from Kuru in Lohardaga who used to lay cables in Kerala, said he had no income and this train journey took a bulk of whatever little money he had.
“We have been reading in newspapers that 85 per cent of our fares will be borne by the Centre and 15 per cent by the state government. But that had nothing to do with reality. Only good thing is that I am returning home,” Oraon said.
Another migrant labourer from Sahibganj, Manoj Marandi, echoed the refrain. “Thank god I had money to return home.”
Vinay Minz of Itki in Ranchi said he had to borrow money.
“I am an electrician but without work my savings are wiped out,” he said.
Arwind Kumar Nayak, from Chakradharpur, said he felt betrayed at having to pay Rs 5 extra plus the ticket fare of Rs 825.
This comes in the wake of the national uproar since May 1 over poor migrants having to pay their way home. It intensified on Monday after Congress leader Sonia Gandhi announced that her party would pay for the migrants’ train fares, and the BJP declaring a Centre-state cash split of 85:15.
Principal secretary of labour reforms department Rajiv Arun Ekka, also the principal secretary to the CM, had underlined to The Telegraph on Tuesday that the state was paying “the entire amount” to the states concerned to pay the railways for bringing back migrant labourers.
Secretary of state disaster management Amitabh Kaushal, addressing the media on Wednesday, said that “migrant workers won’t be charged a penny”.
“So far our migrant workers have returned from other states in 12 trains. We are not charging a single penny from the migrant workers either for sending them from Jharkhand to other states or for bringing them from other states. If the despatch station (origin station) state are paying for the migrant workers' return fare then it is okay. Otherwise we are paying the fare for each worker to the state of the despatch station,” Kaushal said.
He admitted that initially there were coordination issues with a few states but “things have been sorted out”. “I repeat, no fare will be charged from any migrant worker,” he said. “On reimbursing the migrant workers (who have paid for tickets), that’s a policy issue and the government will take a call on it,” he said.
Drinking water and sanitation department minister Mithilesh Thakur, speaking to The Telegraph, promised to look into the matter. “I will talk to the chief minister about workers spending their money on tickets. If the Centre doesn’t reimburse, the state will.”
The fare amount is expected to be huge, as the state is eying the return of some 5 lakh migrant workers among the over 9 lakh stranded in other states. So far, less than 10,000 have returned, sources said.
