Back home, migrant workers from Malda keen to stay back in state

Kolkata: Migrant workers from Malda, who returned from Kosi Kalan in Uttar Pradesh after having to go through a painful ordeal over the the past eight days, have decided to explore all options to earn their livelihood in Bengal itself.

"We have faced many hardships since the lockdown was imposed. All our savings were exhausted. Finding no other way out we decided to return to our home in Malda district in whatever way that was possible. After passing through this traumatic situation, we don't want to venture out of the state anymore. Instead we will try to earn our livelihood in Bengal itself," said Sarif Seikh. This comes when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has taken a series of steps to help migrant labourers returning to Bengal from different parts of the country. She had also assured that they will also be provided with work under MGNREGA.

Sarif, a 21-year-old youth, went to Kosi Kalan to work as a mason along with around 30 more from his village and its vicinity. After exhausting almost their entire savings, they left for Malda around eight days ago with around

Rs 300 to Rs 500 in their pockets.

Initially, they had managed to get hold of a truck that took Rs 100 from each of them, but left them somewhere near Mathura. After waiting for a few hours, they have got another truck in which they managed to reach Dhanbad in Jharkhand against a payment of Rs 200 each. The amount was too hefty for them as they were left with not even a single penny with them. After reaching Dhanbad they had no other option but to walk to Bengal border to reach Malda. Sarif along with others have been provided with shelter at a college building in Malda after the district authorities intervened when they returned to Bengal. They will be undergoing tests before being allowed to go home where they have to be in quarantine for the next 14 days. Sarif said: "We walked to reach here from Dhanbad as we turned impatient to wait for buses. We proceeded taking help of google map in our mobile phones to find the correct route to Bengal border. We ate biscuit and some dry food while walking back home."

"We used to earn around Rs 11,000 each per month. I will approach the local authorities to get some work and if we have to move out of our district, I will maximum go to Kolkata for work and not out of the state," he said.