“A complete list of labourers is ready and is with the police authorities, but it has been 20 days, we are not being allowed to return home. Labourers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were sent through buses and trains, but they are being unfair to the labourers from Jharkhand,” said Aftab Ansari, a labourer from Jharkhand, who is trapped in Kadba in Mangalore, Karnataka. 

A large number of labourers from Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Odisha are still trapped in Karnataka. Despite the running of labour trains, their return has not yet been arranged for even as the labourers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have already been sent home.

These labourers from Jharkhand are constantly requesting the Karnataka administration that some arrangement should be made for their return as they are finding it difficult to stay any further in Karnataka. About 400 labourers, angered by the delay, staged a protest in front of the Milagres College in Mangalore on May 19.

“Our employer was giving food and some cash, but it stopped when the trains started running.  Now, we don’t have money. We have nothing to eat. It’s difficult to manage without food,” says Akhtar Ansari, another labourer who is trapped in Kadba.

“Our details have been taken, we have registered ourselves, medical checkup has been done. Why are we not allowed to go home? The police tell repetitively that there would be something the next day, but it has been 20 days already,” said Akhtar.

According to Aftab, more than 160 people from Jharkhand are stranded in Kadba area of Karnataka. The projected number of labourers stranded in Karnataka is close to 5,000, including a large number of labourers from West Bengal and Odisha.

Titu, a labourer from West Bengal, who is trapped in Koela, Karnataka, said: “We had registered to go home, but no further information is being provided to us. We are stranded 2,000 kms away from home. At least, the administration should tell us by when would the train will start running.”

Deven Soren, a labourer from Jharkhand, who was trapped in Koela in Karnataka, said: “These labourers started on foot for their villages, but had to face police lathicharge on the road. When no arrangement was made by the administration for the labourers, we walked to the Mangalore station, but the police used lathis on us and confiscated our Aadhaar cards.”

He added: “The assured us that some arrangements would be made in two or three days, but it has been so many days. The police are still making excuses and not letting us go.”

On May 19, when these labourers were protesting outside Milagres College in Mangalore, Police Commissioner Dr PS Harsh approached the labourers and assured them that some arrangements would be made soon.

Mukhtar Ansari, another labourer from Jharkhand, who participated in the protest said: “The police have told us that due to heavy rain, the train movement is delayed. The police have assured us that the train would be arranged in two-three days and we will be sent home.”

Vidya Dinkar, the convener of the Citizen’s Forum for Mangalore Development, who is actively helping the migrant labourers to return home, told Gaon Connection: “All of them are trapped in South Karnataka. We requested the authorities to run these trains from Udupi, but it could not be done. The administration should have made some arrangements for these labourers who are not in Mangalore.”

She added: “So far, five trains have plied between Mangalore and Jharkhand, but these labourers were trapped on the outskirts. Because of the lack of coordination, these labourers, who were on the outskirts, could not be sent back home.”