Violence no deterrent,migrant inflow continues

Drought has resulted in the movement of thousands of families from Bihar to places like Punjab and other states to avoid deaths due to starvation. The Bihar government has already urged the Centre for aid following drought in almost 25 of its districts and its capital Patna,but due to the delay in rehabilitation work,people are moving out of Bihar.  

Even the heightened tension in the industrial town of Ludhiana has failed to deter them.

“The condition in Ludhiana is far better than it is back home,” said Kaluram,a migrant from Bihar who reached Punjab on Tuesday along with his wife and children. “There is nothing to worry about. I have spoken to my brother who works in a plywood factory in Ludhiana and he has assured me that the situation is normal now,” he added.

Intelligence officials said the inflow of migrants,especially from Bihar and Madhya Pradesh,had increased in the last three weeks and the number was growing despite the problem in Ludhiana. “In the last three days,over 7,000 migrants have come to the state,” claimed an officer.

“There is no work in the fields (in Bihar) and a bleak possibility of sowing wheat in the coming season due to the unavailability of water,” said Ramdin,a migrant. “I have come to Punjab to leave my family members with my cousin,who is a polish contractor here,and will go back to see if there is any scope,” said the farmer from Begusarai as he moved out of the Rajpura railway station,the first Punjab station on the Ambala-Ludhiana route.

Waiting for a train to Muktsar,a group of labourers at the Rajpura railway station said government officials in Bihar had said they might have to import grains from Punjab if the situation did not improve. They said panchayats in Bihar had been given grain to store so that nobody died of hunger. “But only wheat distribution will not help,” said a man from Buxar.

“If we are going to depend on Punjab after a couple of months,we thought it would be better to find work here rather than wasting time in Siwan (Bihar),” said 60-year-old Prithpal who had worked in Punjab three years ago. “Getting two square meals a day is becoming tougher by the day. Most land owners are busy securing their water from being stolen. Many have lost their lives in these fights,” he added.

Inside a train to Ludhiana,another migrant family said their cattle died due to floods and now their two cows were on the verge of death due to hunger,adding that even the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme could not help them. “We leased our two cows for Rs 2,500 to get some money to reach Punjab. My brother is working in Ludhiana and he has promised to arrange for some work in his owner’s fields for my entire family,” said Pushpa Devi,a resident of Gaya.

Farmers in Punjab had faced severe shortage of labour in the paddy season,but the situation has changed now and they are expecting cheap labour in the Rabi season. “There is not much work in the fields nowadays,but more than 10 labourers have approached me with their relatives,willing to work at nominal rates,” said Jaswinder Dullet,a farmer from Nabha.