From Visakhapatnam of Andhra Pradesh to Garhwa district in Jharkhand nearly 1,000 km by road, it takes 24 hours to reach on a vehicle. But a group of 21migrants from Jharkhand, who had been to Vishakhapatnam to work in a small fish processing factory, decided to make it possible by walking and then cycling to reach home. Lack of money, fear of coronavirus pandemic and a wish to meet family members pushed these youths to take this drastic step.
When nation-wide lockdown was declared, the work was completely stopped; so also the monthly income. Initially, they thought they would stay and once the lockdown gets over, they would resume work. But the lockdown again was extended to May 3 and the cases of novel coronavirus started increasing, making them scared to stay back. “In the first phase lockdown we managed; we expected our employer would provide dry ration but he didn’t turn up. We tried to contact him but the phone was always switched off. We realized he left us to die with hunger,” said Mukesh Khalko (23), migrant worker from Bargarh village of Garhwa district in Jharkhand.
Then they explored how to reach home. They went to local offices; requested them to make arrangements for them to go home. But officers said there was no train service available to board from Vishakhapatnam to reach Jharkhand directly. There was no clear information about train services. “We asked them to register our names in the portal but no one cooperated. Language was a major barrier to convince and make them understand about our situation,” he said, adding, “We felt we are completely stuck. As we had no money to buy ration from grocery shops, we were surviving with very little food.”
On May 7, all of them finally decided to go home by walking. Because for searching the way to go home they had already spent 15-20 days and their savings was getting thinner. When asked they could have waited to board a train from other stations, they replied they didn’t have money to buy tickets.
“Going home by walking was the only option left for us. We thought we would die with hunger not infection and our bodies will be thrown unnoticed,”said AnirudhTirkey, 25, another migrant worker. “If so, then why not go back to home,” added Mukesh.
They contacted another group from the same village who were working in Vijayawada as construction workers and explained about their planning. The youths from Vijayawada started walking on May 8 while Mukesh and his friends started walking on May 9. “Each of them carried 5 kg Chuda (rice flakes), jaggery, sugar, 10 packets of biscuits and 2 bottles of water. All these things kept in the back pack and we started our journey,” said Mukesh. “We had no idea about the route from Vishakhapatnam to Garhwa so we followed the Google Map,” he informed.
When they reached Parvatipuram they realized they cannot walk anymore. A couple was also in their group and the wife was not able to walk. All of them contacted their family members as they thought it would be difficult for them to cover the rest kilometers. Their family insisted them to buy cycles and return home by cycling.
“They sent money through Google pay and we bought 17 cycles. We were 21 migrants and thought some will take pillion,” said Mukesh.
But the problem began when they crossed Andhra border and entered Odisha. It was too hot and in this scorching heat they thought to take rest for a while and then to start journey. “We were taking rest under tree shade; 3 to 4 of us went to a tube well nearby for drinking water. Suddenly four local persons came in two motor cycles and shouted. They used filthy languages because we had touched tube well to drink water. Then they wasted so much of water just to clean the tube well but didn’t give a drop to drink,” said Anirudh. “Due to exhaustion we were not even able to paddle the cycle. We wanted to drink and fill the empty bottles, but seeing us other villagers came rushing and shouted. They assaulted and misbehaved accusing us as virus carrier and said we should not touch anything. If we touch anything it will infect them. They complained to police to drive us away from the place where we were resting ,” said Mukesh.
Here their plight didn’t end. They went to market to buy some food and there also local people shouted at them accusing as virus carrier. “Local people said we are transporting virus and if we stay for longer it will infect their surroundings. They didn’t allow us to buy food. Even, they said if we will not leave their place soon they will beat us," said Mukesh. This behaviour of local people disheartened them. “We were disturbed as we were on the middle of our path, we couldn’t return and this kind of behaviour restricted us to go further,” said Praman Khalko, 23, another migrant.
They immediately left the place and without having food and drinking water they decided to paddle the cycle. On the way, other group from Vijayanagaram joined them and they also echoed the same experience. “Now we were 31 migrants and most of us were exhausted so much that we were not able to paddle the cycle any more. No food, no water and no rest and other groups were walking for last 3 days and were completely exhausted in the scorching heat,” expressed Mukesh.
The Google map took them to the next destination,on May 13 they reached Kantabanji in Balangir district. They were about to take on any decision to rest, when suddenly a group of police and some officials came in. The migrants thought villagers have complained and police have come to arrest them. But the approach was different. “They offered us food, water, medicine and oil to massage on our body and legs. After paddling for more than 500 kms our legs were aching and burning with scratches. We had not taken rice for last 5 days so we fed our stomach with full plate of rice with dalma and pickle and also they offered to take chuda, gur, biscuits and water bottles with us,” said Mukesh.
Saroj Mohapatra, SDPO, Kantabanji who attended these migrants said, "All the migrants were frightened when we reached. But we offered them food and asked them to take rest at temporary medical centre."
“Seeing their plight tears rolled off my eyes. They are bearing the brunt of being poor and marginalised,” said activist Sanjay Mishra.