The desperation of 50 migrant workers, including a woman and two children, to return home in Birbhum cost them Rs 2.8 lakh and they ran into a series of troubles, including police non-cooperation in Uttar Pradesh, after they started off in a truck from Mumbai on Thursday.

The group decided to leave Mumbai after running out of resources and booked a truck to travel back home after paying the driver Rs 1.8 lakh upfront with money borrowed from home. When the truck reached a check post in Allahabad on Sunday morning, the driver asked the workers to de-board and get checked.

“We trusted him and got off the truck. The driver said he would wait on the other side of the check post to take us home. However, we waited for two hours but the truck did not arrive,” said Sahirul Sheikh, one of the migrant workers and resident of Kusumgaria village in Birbhum’s Labhpur.

After calls to the driver’s mobile phone went unanswered, they approached the local police to track the truck and help them return home. They claimed the cops made them wait for at least three hours at the police camp at Allahabad but no help came.

“We requested the police to arrange for a bus to drop us off at home but we were told they did not have any communication from Bengal. Finally, we started to walk,” said Sheikh Shine, another worker.

“The cost of an AC two-tier ticket is around Rs 3,100 but the workers had to spend around Rs 6,000 per head. The police in UP did not help them,” said Samirul Islam, the president of Bangla Sanskriti Mancha, a social organisation working for migrant workers.

After walking for seven hours, they boarded a truck that promised to drop them off on the Bengal border near Asansol for Rs 1 lakh. The Bengal administration intercepted them at the border and ferried them home in buses on Tuesday.

“My children aged 12 and 6 years and my wife could not walk any further. We called up home and borrowed money to pay the driver who dropped off us at the Asansol border,” said Mithu Sheikh, a resident of Bolpur town.

“I had to borrow Rs 14,000 for my two sons for the journey back home. I don’t know how to repay the lender,” said Jahira Biwi, mother of Sahirul.

“Our family members had to borrow money and some had to sell their ornaments to fund our trip,” said one of the migrants.