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Migrant workers are not in a good state. Countless migrant workers have been stranded in various parts of the country, such as Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala, as the corona outbreak has led to lockdown across the country. In our city of Bangalore alone, 42% of the total population is migrant workers (Source: The Hindu Patrika).
They come mainly from Nadia, Murshidabad, East and West Midnapore, East Burdwan, North 24 Parganas and different parts of Howrah. Some of them are masons or masons’ helpers, some of them are carpenters, textile makers, ornament makers or car drivers. Many also work as security guards, interior decorators or maintenance staff in multi-storey apartments. Although they are not fully dependent on daily wages, their financial situation is not so prosperous. So four or five of them together, sometimes or more, rent one-room houses for Rs 4,000 to Rs 6,000.
In addition, the lion’s share of migrant workers from West Bengal collect garbage and make a living by re-selling glass bottles, plastic and cardboard separately from the collected garbage. The condition of the people who eat these days is even more miserable. The women of their families mainly work as maids in the houses. They live mainly in tin and plastic makeshift tents behind large apartments in Whitefield, Belandur, Varthur, Kundanahalli areas of East Bangalore.
But in the current situation, most of them have lost their livelihood due to this nationwide lockdown. They are stuck in a completely unknown city – they don’t have food in the fridge, they don’t have the financial means to buy food. There are countless families who do not have the ability to put milk in the mouths of their children. They are also deprived of all the help of the local government due to lack of local identity cards. Their mothers, fathers and family members living in rural houses are in a similar crisis.
It was this fear that struck a chord in the minds of many socially conscious youth in Bangalore. So they decided to stay in Bangalore instead of returning to their home state despite having “work from home” in the office. Karnataka chose the ‘Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti’ (BGVS), which has been working on a variety of science-based topics, to help migrant workers stand by them in the face of the impending disaster.
Shortly after the lockdown began on March 25, the country began searching for migrant workers stranded in Bangalore through various means, most of them from West Bengal. Initially, until March 31, an average of 8 to 10 stranded migrant workers could be found every day. Following all the rules and regulations of the local administration, we were able to get Corona Emergency Response Team Pass for eight vehicles and in the early days we started delivering food and rations to them at our own expense. Subsequently, the number of phone calls increased to an average of 60 daily. So far, BGVS, with 20 friends, has been able to deliver food and rations to about 18,000 migrant workers, most of whom came from different districts of West Bengal. However, besides West Bengal, there are also workers from other states, such as Assam, Tripura, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and other districts in Karnataka.
It must also be said here that for some of those who have been working as volunteers in this activity, this work has not become a so-called charity or social service even for a moment. These young people have taken it as a responsibility – as a citizen, to stand by a fellow citizen, as a human being, as a human being to move forward in the difficult times of another human being. So, like the other five ordinary middle-class urbanites, we left the luxury of TickTock, Dalgona Coffee, Netflix or Amazon in this quarantine period and are now on the streets, next to these helpless migrant workers.
Here are some facts to mention. On March 31, it was reported that about 300 day laborers from Hingalganj in North 24 Parganas were stranded in the Bommasandra area of Bangalore; Friend Prithu rode his bike with 75 kg of rice and potatoes to the migrant workers about 35 km from his home. Similarly, on April 2, Monsieur and Dipanjan, a pregnant woman and her family, who were stranded in the JP Nagar area of South Bangalore, arrived with rations. The next day, Comrade Himanish reached the Yelahanka area, carrying 100 kg of rice and potatoes to 150 bricklayers from Murshidabad. Then, on April 13, we received news that 10 women in Murshidabad had petitioned the local master, Shamik Mandal, to deliver rations to their children. Their children live in Sarjapur, Bangalore and as newcomers they did not have any special money or rations. Just the next morning after receiving the news at night, Sathi Navneeta reached herself to deliver 25 kg of rice and potatoes to the 22 to 24 year old boys.
Also recently, we have received repeated phone calls that 11 construction workers from Kakdwip in North 24 Parganas are stranded in Ramanagar district of Karnataka (where the famous movie ‘Shole’ was shot) and have no rations to eat more than once a day. Although they could not get there due to long distances during office hours, Sathi Pallabi, Shirshendu and Sumit reached there by 10 am on Saturday, April 17 of the same week, so that they would not have to spend another day half-eaten and would have enough rations for the next 15 days. Came up.
Thus, every day since the 26th, these young people have been managing their office and household chores, pushing away all entertainment and luxury and constantly trying to be by the side of migrant workers in the midst of this nationwide lockdown. In this way we have always found our friends scattered in different parts of Bangalore, who at our request have delivered rations to the families of migrant workers in their areas. In addition to the volunteer friends, we have joined hands with some other progressive organizations, such as Born to Help, the 2006 Alumni Batch of the Barahanagar Ramakrishna Mission, various Housing Committees in Bangalore and BGVS members from other states and other districts of Karnataka. I have also been able to stand by the side of migrant workers in Mumbai. We have also received countless well-meaning people who have responded to our requests on social media, and it would not have been possible for us to continue this work without their financial support.
However, just as our responsibilities have increased over time, so too has the number of volunteers and funding. There are still so many migrant workers in crisis, we still have to reach them. Recently, a female migrant worker died of malnutrition in our Ballari region of Karnataka. We do not want any other worker to lose his life prematurely in this way. Therefore, we sincerely request you to come forward in this time of calamity. This fight is for all of us. Even a small donation from you can feed a worker’s family, and your little help can help a worker win the fight for survival.
