Migrants had no choice left but to walk home: Sainath
Priyanka.Kakodkar@timesgroup.com
Mumbai:09.05.2020
“This was a disaster waiting to happen. Lakhs of migrants were thrown into the deep end with the lockdown and expected to survive. The government has played with the lives of 100 million people,” said P Sainath, Magsaysay award winner and founder-editor of People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI). “The government said we will help you get home by train but demanded full payment for it. What choice did they have but to walk home?” he asked.
“Migrants have always been treated as invisible by the government. They are not enumerated properly so are denied welfare schemes,” said Divya Verma from Aajeevika Bureau that works with migrants.
“They are denied dignity and treated as a factor of production even though they make such a large contribution to the economy,” said Verma. “If the state had ensured food and money reached them, they would not have started walking,” said Bilal Khan of Ghar Banao Ghar Bachao Andolan.
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