Special train to Lucknow leaves Bengaluru with 1200, many frustrated

In the next 30 minutes the access route to Chikabannavara station was closed in anticipation of the busloads of UP-bound people working, and based, in different parts of Bengaluru.

“I have come from Belur Cross, 60 km away, hoping to catch the train. I cannot go back now – there is no place to stay. My contractor did not pay my dues. I just want to go home,” said Kishan Singh, 30, from Gorakhpur, who worked as a painter at a constructing site near Nagamangala in Mandya region.

Unable to apply online for his ticket, Kishan said he hoped that “somehow we will be able to board the train”.

That was not to be, as the Lucknow-bound train left at 7 pm, carrying 1,200 passengers who were brought to the station by 20 state buses. There were painters, carpenters, security guards, construction workers, tile layers, electricians, drivers — most of them young people, working for barely a few months in Bengaluru.

On Monday, nearly 2,000 workers, who had gathered at Bengaluru city railway station and other stations such as Yeshwanthpur, hoping to catch trains to their home states, were taken to Bengaluru International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) grounds, around 35 km from the city, where emergency relief camps had been set up.

On Tuesday, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao and several senior state ministers met these workers and urged them to stay until arrangements are made for their return.

Later in the evening, these people were gradually sent in state buses to their places of residence in Bengaluru – they were given supplies of rice, dal, atta, cooking oil and water.

State Education Minister S Suresh Kumar, nodal officer for affairs of migrant workers, said: “We visited the camps and tried to convince them to stay on, but they are insistent on returning home. They want to find out about their family and then consider returning.”

R Srinivas, a security contractor for the IT sector, explained the apprehension among many employers: “There is a fear that most workers will not return for six-seven months. Many contractors have held back payments in an effort to dissuade workers from returning but it does not seem to be working.”

There is no work, pay and little to do but fret in Bengaluru – that’s the common refrain among workers who have come from different parts of the country.

Ram Avatar, 32, a carpet layer from UP who was among the lucky few to get on the special train on Tuesday, said, “We were living at a labour camp in Marathahalli (an eastern Bengaluru suburb) and our tickets were arranged at the camp. I came 45 days ago and there has been no work because of the lockdown. I just want to go home now.”

Shiv Singh, 35, from Gorakhpur, who has worked as a painter for five years in Bengaluru, said: “We paid Rs 970 each for the ticket to Lucknow. We are a group of painters who were working at the construction site of Bengaluru airport. We are contracted to work with L&T and our tickets were arranged through our employers. It worked out faster, unlike those trying to apply online.”

Shiv said they will return when things improve.