Centre insensitive to migrants’ travel needs: Activists

CHENNAI: Safe travel for migrant workers from north and north eastern states to the southern parts of the country remains a distant dream. The June 2 train accident in Odisha’s Balasore that has claimed more than 275 lives and left many more battling for their lives, a considerable number of them being migrant labourers returning to work in unreserved coaches, has only proved that the Centre and Indian Railways have failed to take concrete measures to provide a safe travel for them.

Migrant labourers travelling to their hometown jostling for space inside unreserved coaches as well as reserved coaches has been a common sight for several years. A number of migrant workers and organisations working for the welfare of the labourers pointed out that there are scores of instances in which labourers have had to stand for most part of the journey for lack of space in the trains.

“Majority of migrant labourers from Odisha come to Tamil Nadu to work in brick kilns. The agent/employer does not arrange for transportation nor train tickets. They are forced to travel in unreserved coaches. In many cases, people end up standing for most part of the journey or manage in whatever little space is available or even travel inside the toilets,” said Deepak Tirkey, a 27 year-old migrant labour-turned- activist hailing from Odisha’s Balangir district.

Recalling an incident in which a migrant labourer died a couple of months ago, R Geetha, coordinator of Unorganised Workers Federation said, the labourer, Josef Munda, had to stand at the entrance of the train while travelling to his hometown in Jalpaiguri in West Bengal from Kerala due to lack of space. “This is one such incident but there are many others which go unreported,” she added.

Geetha added that the Indian Railways has failed to address the plight of migrant labourers. “We saw this during COVID-19 when migrant workers were forced to walk for hundreds of kilometres and many died on the way back home. This train accident is another incident that shows how the Central government does not bother,” she said.

S Irudaya Rajan, International Institute of Migration and Development, emphasised on creating “migration corridors” and operating more trains on either routes that will cater to the heavy inflow of migrant workers and the pattern of migration.

Giving out data, president of Southern Railway Mazoor Union CA Raja Sridhar, said that last year alone, 2.34 crore persons had reserved tickets but did not travel. Whereas, the number of unreserved/general compartments were being reduced, showing that the areas that have higher demand are not being addressed. “The Railways is a service sector, but it has been turned into a commercial sector. They are bringing more 3-tier AC coaches instead of looking at the needs of the common man,” he said.