Back home, workers worry about those yet to make it

Behrampore/Kolkata: As a special train — the second one to bring migrant

workers

home — chugged into Behrampore from Ernakulam on Wednesday night, the 1,123 passengers on board, who were stranded in Kerala for over a month, heaved a sigh of relief.

Construction worker Kabul Hossain trundled across the platform with his luggage and queued up for mandatory health screening. “I have exhausted my entire savings following the lockdown. I am fortunate to be able to return home. There are so many others still stuck in Kerala,” he said.

The Murshidabad administration had rustled up a team of doctors, health workers and volunteers to examine and guide the migrants. Since the train, scheduled to arrive in the afternoon, got delayed, the railways arranged for evening snacks. Outside the station, 72 buses waited to take home the workers, who were divided into batches according to their subdivisions. “People coming from Kerala will have to go through several medical tests. More rigorous tests will be conducted for people coming from Delhi, Gujarat and Maharashtra. They may even be stopped at the Bengal border for tests,” said home secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay.

Meanwhile, workers stranded in Ernakulam made rounds of the police station and labour office to enquire about the next train. “We have registered on Sneher Parash app. There are around 5,000 workers in the Angamaly area,” said Saakil Khan of Haribhaktapur in Jalangi, Murshidabad.

Many workers worried if they would have to pay the train fare. “We do not have any money to buy food for a day. There is no way our relatives can send us money,” said Rabiul Islam, also from Jalangi.