As a district unlocks: ‘Left on a truck to see family, but now I am returning to save them’ -Dipankar Ghose

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published Published on Jul 27, 2020   modified Modified on Jul 27, 2020

-The Indian Express

Beginning May, a huge influx of returning migrants, unable to sustain themselves in locked-down cities, walking kilometres, starving in trains, reached the succour of home in Bihar. But with no work, and the lockdown affecting the rural economy as well with falling agricultural prices, they are leaving again.

Patna: THEY STAND close to each other, bags slung over shoulders, noses pressed against the glass. They watch flights land and take off, passengers in PPEs being ferried in buses. “Bhai,” an airport staffer breaks in. He has been tasked with maintaining social distance at the Patna airport. And his voice is gentle: “Are you going for work? Is the situation bad at home?” Then, to make them smile, he confides: “I haven’t been inside an aircraft, either.”

Beginning May, a huge influx of returning migrants, unable to sustain themselves in locked-down cities, walking kilometres, starving in trains, reached the succour of home in Bihar. But then, with no work, and the lockdown affecting the rural economy as well with falling agricultural prices, they are leaving again. The cities are slowly reopening, and the companies, in real estate for instance, are desperate for their workers to return.

Manish Kumar is from Bihpur in Bhagalpur, a district that has been the focus of a series by The Indian Express to understand how the fight against Covid, and the unlockdown, plays out in a small town.

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The Indian Express, 27 July, 2020, https://indianexpress.com/article/india/bihar-coronavirus-lockdown-migrants-workers-jobs-6524942/


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