Tackling the guest workers’ issues and sending them back home has been a major challenge faced by various state governments during the coronavirus pandemic. Amid the battle against Covid 19, Kerala government could effectively respond to the Union government’s call to send back guest workers to their native places.
Since May 1, when the first Shramik special trains started its services, Kerala could send nearly one lakh guest workers. As per the State Labour Department’s data, a total of 99,827 guest workers left for their home states from May 1 to May 30. A total of 76 special trains operated service to various states during the month. The highest number of labourers left for West Bengal (23,561) in the 19 special trains operated. A total of 13 trains conducted service to UP to transport 17,252 workers while 12 trains carried 15,608 labourers to Jharkhand.
Hundreds of labourers from Rajasthan, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttharakhand, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh returned to their native place in special trains. Only 47 labourers from Sikkim also went back though no train was operated to the state.
When the national lockdown announced in March last week, the Labour Department instructed labour contractors to provide food, accommodation and other basic facilities to guest workers. The department has formed WhatsApp groups and call centres in districts to provide information to labourers in their native language and to redress their grievances.
Only those workers who insist on returning home are being sent back. A big number of workers are continuing to stay back in the state citing better facilities including food and shelter.
Though Kerala is estimated to have nearly three million guest workers, the state has not witnessed instances of labourers walking back their faraway native states without food or water.
