30 lakh migrant workers have left Gujarat; 2-3 lakh to follow

GANDHINAGAR: More than 30 lakh migrant workers left Gujarat for their own states between May 1 and 27, after the government permitted migrant workers to return. Government sources said that another two or three lakh workers are expected to leave in the coming days.

The return of a whopping 30 lakh plus workers to their home states, is likely to severely hurt industrial activity in the state.

According to government records, as many as 974 Shramik Special trains transported over 15.58 lakh migrant workers to states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar , Odisha , West Bengal , Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu among others. Another 9.50 lakh workers have so far been sent in government and private buses to the neighbouring states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. These figures do not include unregistered migrant workers who left the state on foot, bicycle and or other vehicles after being unable to register.

Officials say that although the state government does not have exact figures of those who left by foot or other means, the number could be between four and five lakh persons. In the first week of the government allowing migrant workers to return, as many as 21 lakh workers had registered to return, with more registering as the days passed.

Along with movement of migrant workers from Gujarat to other states number, the migration of workers from one district to another within Gujarat also spiked. People left Surat, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and other industrial hubs to go to districts such as Bhavnagar, Amreli , Jamnagar, Dahod and Narmada.