Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh)
The labourers, who had somehow reached their villages with great difficulties and struggle during the lockdown, have once again started returning to the cities in search of work.
In Madhya Pradesh, labourers from tribal-dominated Dhar, Jhabua and Alirajpur have yet again started migrating to states like Rajasthan and Gujarat for work. The contractors are once again fetching these people from their villages under the lure of a hefty sum of money.
“I’ve come from Gandhinagar in Gujarat,” said Gal Singh Bhuriya, a migrant labourer from Devjhiri, which is 8 kms from the Jhabua district. “Although we are able to find work here, the wages are very low. I only got a daily wage of Rs 190 while my expenses are higher. So, I am going back with the contractor. There, we will get a daily wage of Rs 400.”
Roop Singh Satya from Jhekla village said: “Our contractor has come to take us. He has called us to the Gujarat border. From there we’d be provided a bus. He’d provide us the same job we’d been doing previously. The contractor has assured that there will be no difficulty now. So, believing his words, we are going back to Gujarat.”
The Madhya Pradesh government have registered the migrant labourers who has returned during the lockdown. It has registered 14,000 labourers in Alirajpur, 11,000 labourers in the Dhar district and about 24,000 labourers in the Jhabua district. After registration, employment camps would now be put up. So, why are people migrating, yet again when the state has promised to create and provide jobs under the Employment Guarantee scheme?
“We have faced troubles for a long time. Firstly, we came home after a lot of suffering. We walked back to our village. We do not have good employment opportunities here. I knew how to operate the machines, but instead, I had to work as a labourer in the scorching heat. Work has resumed in Morbi (in Gujarat). Now I will go back to my old job,” said Raju Subhan from Pipaliya village.
Rakesh Machar, a social activist, said: “The government of Madhya Pradesh has made the process of getting a job at the local level very lengthy. Migrant labourers have registered themselves. Although some have been given jobs under the employment guarantee scheme, the concern is, for how long the skilled labourers can work in such less money. No decision has been taken to provide them employment in the industrial sectors so far. Unless these people get employment at home, it does not help them.”
Prakash Patidar, an employment affairs expert, said: “The labourers will continue to migrate unless they get an adequate amount. Till then, they will continue to move out. Self-reliance cannot be confined to paper only. It is necessary to implement it at the ground level. At present, the labourers are to be given employment for 100 days, but beyond that, there is no planning. That is why no one can survive in towns and districts for a long time without wages and proper planning. This is why another round of migration has begun.”
“We have completed the registration process,” said Anil Bhore, labour officer at the Dhar district. “Camps will be organized in coordination with various departments to provide employment as soon as we get a go-ahead from the government. Efforts will be made to provide employment through these camps. The Department of Employment, the Department of Industry, and many others shall coordinate the process.”
Preeti Saste, the Dhar District Employment Officer, says that the information is being recorded on the migrants’ portal. Information is also being obtained from the employment donors so that jobs can be provided to people.
People are putting their health at stake
The way this migration is happening is also problematic. Social activist Rupesh Patidar says the buses transporting the labourers are overcrowded. “The contractors are renting their own buses and taking labourers by those buses. Social distancing is not being followed, masks and sanitizers are not being provided. The lives of labourers are being put to a great risk. The situation is such that in the coming days, any further spread of coronavirus infection will affect these labourers the most. Nobody has bothered to pay any attention to this fact,” he said.
