Image Courtesy:theprint.in
The 21-day nation-wide lockdown brought about by the central government to curb the spread of Covid-19, has attracted scathing criticism from civil society groups in Jharkhand. This is on account of an alleged lack of preparation from the government, especially with respect to the plight of migrant labourers who were rendered jobless overnight. Many such people decided to head back to their homes and villages fearing starvation and homelessness in the cities where they were employed.
However, with all modes of transport shut (except for essential transport), most of these migrant workers had to return home on foot. According to media reports 22 migrants allegedly lost their lives in this mass exodus, because they didn’t have any access to food and water. It was only after the general public raised a cry about this, did the media pick up the problem as an important. This also built pressure on the administration to make arrangements for the migrants’ nutrition, shelter and safety.
The Jharkhand Nagrik Prayas (JNP), a group of concerned citizens, issued a statement to this effect, taking the government to task for its alleged lack of preparation. Prem Verma, Convener, Jharkhand Nagrik Prayas, said “We already were locked down voluntarily on the 21st of March which was extended by another 24 hours on the 22nd of March. If we then needed a 21-day Lockdown, the public should have been warned of the impending 21-day Lockdown and asked to prepare themselves for this long event. They should have been given a week’s window for this preparation so that people far away from their native places could come back to their town/village helped by the respective State Governments by proper transport methods, e.g. trains, buses, etc.”
In the statement, the Jharkhand Nagrik Prayas questions if the political leaders sitting comfortably in their homes understand the anxiety and discomfort of daily wagers and whether they understand the misery imposed on the impoverished by such decisions. The statement reads, “Migrant labourers from all across the country were starting to get laid off and landlords started to ask these poor daily earners to vacate their premises. Fearing the Corona (virus), loss of livelihood and their place of residence, the vast majority of daily earners started their long journey to go back to the safety of their family and village/town. A mass exodus and movement took place and filled our roads and midway towns with these poor citizens for whom there was hardly any concern and care.”
Condemning the allegedly haphazard decision of the Central government to implement the lockdown, the statement reads, “It has become a fashion in this country to give the minimum attention to the needs and requirements of the vast poor majority thinking that they should keep quiet and not ask for more. At the same time the affluent and filthy rich can have multi-crore weddings, celebrations and enjoy the fruits of the hard labour put in by the poor majority.”
Verma writes that the 21-day-lockout without any advanced preparation to help the poor and the needy was a disastrous decision in terms of bringing unnecessary hardship to this large migrant force on whose head our daily economy rests. “Let us not repeat this mistake again without adequate warning and preparation,” the statement concluded.
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