Buses give up migrants midway at Behrampore -The residents of Cooch Behar had moved to Hyderabad early this year for carpentry jobs

Migrants from Ahmedabad board a bus for South 24 Parganas, during the ongoing COVID-19 nationwide lockdown, in Calcutta on Wednesday, May 27, 2020. (PTI Photo/Ashok Bhaumik)

Alamgir Hossain, TT, 29.05.20, Behrampore: A group of 110 migrant labourers returning from Hyderabad to Cooch Behar were left stranded midway after two buses dropped them off at the Behrampore bus stand before dawn on Thursday and left.

The residents of Cooch Behar had moved to Hyderabad early this year for carpentry jobs. NGOs had arranged for two buses to ferry the youths from Hyderabad, but the vehicles were intercepted at Danton in East Midnapore because they lacked inter-state travel permits.

“On Wednesday, two buses arranged for by the East Midnapore district administration picked us up and we thought we were heading home. But unfortunately, that wasn’t the case,” said Biswajit Roy, a resident of Pundibari in Cooch Behar.

The youths, caught off guard, sat at the bus stop in Behrampore for several hours on Thursday before they could catch the attention of the local administration.

“We were not surprised anymore. Rather, we were depressed by the continuing ordeal that migrant workers like us are facing to get home,” said Nur Islam Sheikh. He said the group had initially intended to return before Id but had not bargained for the harassment they had to face on entering Bengal.

To the youths’ surprise, a traffic police contingent dispatched by Murshidabad police chief K. Sabari Rajkumar located them and provided them with meals.

“A traffic police man informed me that he had spotted a group of migrants. So, I arranged for their meals immediately. I then contacted the RTO to arrange for state-run buses that could take these youths home to Cooch Behar,” said Rajkumar.

The SP said East Midnapore police had not contacted him before or after dropping the youths off in Behrampore.

By Thursday noon, the youths were packed into two WBSTC buses — armed with two warm meals each — and sent home.