Kannauj (Uttar Pradesh)
“There was no one earning in the family, so we come here for the sake of food. Wherever hunger drives you, you have to go there,” said Gayatri Devi, a labourer who works in a brick kiln in Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh. She added: “I have seven daughters and no son. I do not get a pension or the benefit of any other schemes. No one came forward to help people like me during the lockdown. If I had farming land, there was no need for me to come to Kannauj, that too all the way from Bihar.”
Nearly 3,221 workers from 31 brick kilns across Kannauj are headed back to Gaya, Bihar. The lives of these workers going back to their homes after nine months is nothing short of tragic. They lament that if they had been given a sustained job opportunity in Bihar, they wouldn’t have come to Kannauj. They would stay indoors during the monsoon and step out yet again to earn somewhere else.
Karun, a brick kiln worker, said: “I had come here to earn from so far. The four-month period of the rainy season has begun, so everybody is going back home. The owner has paid for the ticket. At present, we are leaving for home and don’t know whether we’d return or not. Eighty people from my workplace are going by this train. There are no jobs in Gaya, so have to come here.”
Rajkumar, a labourer from Gaya, said: “I am headed back home. I had come here for molding bricks. I am now going back after having worked and earned. Wages have been received from the owner. I have three people in my family and everybody is going by train. It feels good … to go back home. I didn’t face any problem here. Everything had been alright.”
Sitting among a number of people in tents pitched outside the Kannauj railway station, Suma Devi said: “We had come for brick molding. Now, we are going back to our district. We had come here to earn and eat for a period of nine months. I have been paid in full. The owner gives the money as per work.”
Subhashiya Devi, another worker, said: “I am going home by train. The poor are here to earn and eat. There is no income in Bihar. I have 15 people travelling with me. Our payments have not yet been done. I will go back and try to do something to support myself. No brickwork happens during the rain. There I will sow paddy crop and be a daily wager.
Gulam, a brick kiln labourer said: “There is no work in Bihar. If you don’t earn, you won’t get food. If you are a poor man, you have to come back here. You don’t get food if you are sitting idle. I have no farming land and I have children to look after. We were working at a brick kiln here. I didn’t get the benefits of any government schemes.”
Who will listen to these workers?
The Goan Connection team met Baqal, who works with the Sapna brick kiln in Kannauj. He said: “We are poor. We move with our families. For nine months, we live out of the house and spend only three months at home. There is no time or opportunities for studies. We have to go where the contractor sends us. We get Rs 500 per thousand bricks. The wages are lower at Gaya. One only gets Rs 200 to 250. There is no scope there, so we have to move out to work.”
Kapil Dev, who was standing next to him, said: “We work for wages in Kannauj. If you don’t get a job in your home town, you have to move out. If you get only 10 days of work, what will you eat for the next 20 days? People have come here from different villages. They come with their children.”
Nearly 3,221 kiln labourers have already left. The 11,000 labourers from Bihar, who were working in different brick kilns, are all set to go back. On the first day, 1,621 labourers from 17 kilns were sent via the first labour-special train and labourers from 16 other kilns would be sent by the next train.
The brick kiln operators have started sending these labourers to the railway station by bus, tractor-trolley and truck. It was reported that the labourers who were going by the first train were called directly to the station. The labourers who were going by the second train were brought to the Krishi Naveen Mandi Samiti to avoid overcrowding at the station. The labourers waited beneath the pandals outside the station along with their luggage.
A team of health workers and doctors began their thermal screening at the ticket window. Close by, the revenue personnel handed out the tickets without taking any money. About an hour later, the train arrived at the station from Kasganj. Gradually, labourers, with children and women in tow, boarded the train.
Two labour special trains costed Rs 12.80 lakh
The district administration has booked these trains. The tickets were distributed free of cost among the workers while the actual fare was borne by the kiln operators. About Rs 12.80 lakh had been deposited with the Railways as the passenger fare.
District magistrate of Kannauj, Rakesh Mishra, said, most of the labourers working in brick kilns are from Bihar. Since the brick season is drawing to an end, two labour special trains have been run to send them home. Around 1,621 passengers went by the first train, and 1,600 passengers by the second. The fare paid for by the brick kiln owners, has been deposited with the Railways. The labourers have been issued tickets for free. Food and water packets have also been distributed. The first train left at 4 pm and the second at 8 pm. On June 15, a train was sent to Gaya and one more to the Navada district. Trains were also operated on June 16. He said that each train has been booked for around Rs 6.5 lakh. Payment at the rate of Rs 405 per ticket has been made for the train to Navada. There is no ticket for children younger than five years. For Gaya, Rs 390 have been deposited by the kiln owner for each of the travelling labourers.
