180 West Bengal migrants go door to door in Meerut to fund their trip home

MEERUT: Sukumar Mondol had moved to Meerut with a lot of hope in March this year. But soon Covid-19 lockdown caught up with him. A resident of a village in West Bengal’s Murshidabad, Sukumar had come here in search of work. “I was still looking for work when this lockdown was imposed," he said.


Sukumar had to collect money door to door at several villages in his desperate quest to reach home - yet another migrant directly affected by the extended Covid-19 lockdown.

Now, finally on his way home, Sukumar narrated his plight, "I waited patiently with the savings I had and planned to take a train ticket back home. But, when I went to book a ticket, I came to know that even the trains were very expensive and when they drop me to my state, I’d have to find a way to my village again. This is when I started looking for ways to return via road."

The West Bengal resident learnt that some private buses were ready to ferry them to their state, but only after extracting a huge price. They must pay Rs 1.20 lakh for 30 people – which means nearly Rs 4,000 per person. He then contacted all the people he knew from his home state and they, in turn, contacted more people to pool in the money, and take the arduous journey.

Sukumar's case wasn't an isolated one. There were similar stories everywhere. Darjit Mandal, 70, who was working as a labourer at a sugarcane farm in Meerut’s Daurala, said, “I waited for as long as possible but when I saw that there was no way left to return, I gave up all my savings for the bus journey. Now, I just hope to reach home safely.”

Manish Bansal, owner of Rajdhani tour & travels, which provided the buses, said, “They found our number online and approached us. They are travelling to different districts - Murshidabad, Midnapore and Hooghly - of West Bengal. A charge of Rs 1.20 lakh per bus was taken to ferry them to their state. It is almost a four-day journey.” Initially, the buses were not getting "permission". Later, Meerut MP Rajendra Agarwal had to intervene.