Migrants crowd rly station as cyclone nixes trains to east

Crowded in a parking lot and bus stand, travellers to WB, Bihar lash out at ‘irresponsibility’ of the authorities in making chaotic travel arrangements

Though trains to West Bengal and Bihar were cancelled after Amphan, the cyclone that made landfall on May 20, authorities have been shepherding migrant labours to Pune station since Sunday and around 2,000 of them find themselves haplessly crowding a parking lot run by Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) near the station and a neighbouring state transport bus stand. With no information on when the next Shramik Special train will actually take off to their destinations, the crowd — including babies and senior citizens — is now getting restless.

They are angry to have been moved out of the comfort of their Pune homes with the promise that they will be boarding trains to their hometowns, only to start living like beggars out in the open. They also resent that they’ve been reduced to depending on charity for food.

What has run their patience thin is being left in the dark about the action plan of the authorities for their travel. “Everyday a random officer comes over. We don’t even know if he belongs to the district administration or railways. They keep telling us to wait and have patience until the schedule is prepared, but now nobody is telling us how long we have to wait,” said Basir Lakshar, a labourer who hails from West Bengal and is now staying in the parking lot with his family.

Before the lockdown, he worked at the Maldhakka Chowk, earning between Rs 500 and Rs 700 a day. “We are labourers, not beggars to live out here on the street. I had a room for my family. If not for those false promises, we would not have left our home to come stay here, banking on others for our food. Whatever savings I had from my earnings I would send to my village. Now, I am left with literally nothing,” Basir cried indignantly.

Mohammed Ikram, who aspired to return home to Bihar, is now convinced he made a mistake coming to the railway station with his family. The tailor who worked at Mominpura, near Ganj Peth, can see his children ill at ease with their present living condition. “We are living amid garbage. There is no bed sheet to sleep on. No proper washroom. We’re not sure who to turn to with our complaints. We’ve been watching other people walk to their homes, maybe we should have also opted for that. Had we done that, we would have at least been closer home. I have failed my family putting them in such a situation, where I cannot provide them a good meal,” he told Mirror. What makes his guilt worse is the fact that their Eid was spent in such abject condition. “Eid is supposed to be celebrated grandly by us. Never imagined we will spend it in a parking lot,” he rued.

Most of the labourers blame the administration for being careless with their responsibility, not being updated on schedules and leaving the migrant families in a lurch. Their inability to access the enquiry counters in the station is only adding to their frustration. “They just picked us up from a spot at Chikhali and threw us here with no clue on the travel plans. The Chief Minister and other higher authorities are giving orders from the comfort of their offices. Given the attitude we are facing, we wonder if we even deserve to live and if yes, is this how we have to exist for no fault of ours? Some social workers come and feed us, but no one cares about us beyond that,” complained Bikram Dash, amigrant from Howrah.

Railway officials point to the district administration for the poor management of the situation. “We are only involved in arranging for the trains as per the demand made by the district administration. We’re not doing any addition or cancellation from our end. We are even arranging trains by the evening on demands made in the morning. We are not allowing anyone to stay in the station premises as it would get chaotic,” explained Manoj Jhanwar, spokesperson for Pune division of Central Railway.

Acknowledging the problem, district collector Naval Kishore Ram admitted, “There are a huge number of migrants who have sought to travel out of Pune. Trains to WB were cancelled on account of cyclone Amphan in recent days, but we will look into this immediately and ensure that they get home safely.”