Sunday, 10 May 2020
Dear Everyone: Sunday morning, we saw a video clip that showed a large group of migrant workers at the Karnataka-AP border, a stone’s throw away from ADATS. While we have all seen their pathetic plight many a time on many media platforms, this was too close to home.
On 5 May the Government took a decision not to send migrants back to their home states. Two days later, succumbing to public outrage, that decision was reversed. But the damage was done. Desperate migrant workers were already on the move. They had started their long trek home.
We forwarded the video to colleagues at ADATS and Bagepalli staff quickly met. Everyone’s reaction to something terrible happening at our doorsteps was the same. We immediately contacted our regular supermarket to put together 10 packets of dry rations for a group of 8-10 people to cook 4-5 times.
To reconfirm what we had seen in the video, one of us rode to the Highway and border check post. By the time he got back, the dry ration packets were ready. ADATS Field staff loaded 2 packets each on our motorcycles and went to the Andhra Pradesh border. The first group of 12 young migrants we found were resting behind a roadside Dhaba. With tears of fatigue and hunger, they told us that they had started from Bangalore and were walking to Kolkata. In the next few hours, we met 6 more groups. Most of them were walking. Some were on bicycles.
One group of painters and polishers had walked 300 kms from Salem in Tamil Nadu the past 4 days and were going to walk another 1,930 kms to Uttar Pradesh. We were shocked and asked if they couldn’t get lifts on trucks and lorries. “Who will stop for us?” they asked, “We have tried and tried…”.
Another group wanted to reach Hyderabad, 470 kms away. After taking our ration packet, they asked if we could show them cut roads, village paths and routes to avoid the Highway and check-points. “We only pray that the police won’t send us back. We don’t want to go back to Bangalore. We will not. We want to go home!”
A teenager broke down and cried, “I haven’t eaten, Sir. I don’t have ₹ 5 in my pocket.”
“When we are stopped and questioned, we are treated like criminals. They search us like we are Highway bandits. All we want is to go back to our Mothers. Is reaching our loved ones a crime?”
Another young person said, “A good Samaritan gave us cooked food packets when we were walking from Bangalore to here. Afterwards, he took out ₹ 1,000 from his wallet and gave me. When I asked, he said that he had also lost his job and wouldn’t get this month salary. I thanked him for the food but gave back the money and refused to take it. I couldn’t. He will soon be in my state, except that he will be at home”.
Another group brought tears of humility and shame to our eyes when they asked, “Our feet are killing us more than hunger. Is it okay if we sell this wheat and oil to a lorry driver so that he may take us a while?” With wet eyes, we replied, “You are the brave ones who have undertaken this long journey. We are nobody and have given you nothing at all. Please do as you see best. Godspeed.”
After handing out 7 of the 10 packets we came back late evening to put together another 20 packets Monday morning, we went out again and met with 15 more groups. By 10 am it was blazing hot and there were no more migrants to be seen. We came back to rest and went again in the afternoon. We found 2 more groups and all of us came back without chappals; we gave them to those whose footwear had worn thin and still had to tread many thousand more steps…
This morning, Tuesday, we went out again at 5 am, but found only 2 groups. One of them didn’t want dry rations because they couldn’t carry even 1 more kilogram. We managed to buy some bread and biscuits locally and told them to eat.
We will keep this going for as long as we can. A dry ration packet with 5 kg wheat flour, 1 kg sunflower oil, a bottle of pickle and some salt, along with a tava (frying pan) and bandli (deep pan) for mixing the dough and cook some dhal costs just ₹ 766. Surely, we can pitch in that much to help a group of 8-10 determined youth who have been betrayed by their employers, the State and everyone else.
Tuesday, 12 May 2020
Yesterday, we distributed dry rations to 20 groups of 6-8 Migrants. At the end of the day we decided that, starting tomorrow, we would empty our coffers and instead give out cash for them to travel home any which way they could.
Accordingly, we went to the border check-post this evening and convinced the Karnataka police to please let the waiting youth through. We walked with them into Andhra Pradesh with a wad of money and gave 130 migrants ₹ 500 each. The AP police stood by for a few stunned minutes and then decided to join us. They made everyone stand in a line, maintaining physical distance, while Mario, Waheed and Sujaid counted out the money one by one.
The AP police then stopped a few empty eighteen-wheelers going North to pick up cement bags and helped the migrants to climb into them. The lorry drivers have been asked to take them the next 262 kms to Kurnool, half way to Hyderabad. After that, we are sure that another miracle will occur to help them on their onward journey.
Monday, 25 May 2020
We did not go to the border yesterday since Sunday was a total Lockdown in Karnataka and no North bound lorries would have come. Today, when we reached at 5 pm, 19 young Migrants from Nagpur, Chhattisgarh and Odisha were already waiting at the designated spot. Soon after we finished distributing bread, jam, water packets and ₹ 500 each, 10 more arrived.
AP police were not present today. ADATS Staff stopped an Anantapur bound mini truck and loaded all 29.
Half an hour later, a group of 12 Assamese came. They had left Hosur in Tamil Nadu yesterday morning and walked for 2 days to reach the Karnataka-AP border. This morning, after breakfast, they had eaten nothing at all. We distributed ₹ 500 each after they wolfed down the bread and water. Then we stopped a Hyderabad bound lorry and had a most unique experience.
The driver, the third generation in his profession, told us that earlier this week he had ferried a group of Migrants on top of his lorry. The police stopped him and everyone ran off into the fields. He, naturally, couldn’t abandon his lorry and was severely beaten. When he adamantly refused to admit to any wrongdoing, the situation took a weird turn. The police actually apologised, fed him a hot meal and let him off.
“Let all 12 climb in. I will tie a tarpaulin since it is thundery and may rain on the way. If they just wrap it around themselves they may suffocate.” We offered some money to pay toll fees en route, but he took serious offence.
“If you give me any money, I will offload everyone from my lorry. I am doing this because I have to help as many of these young kids as I can reach their homes. My father and grandfather were also drivers. That must be the reason why their grandson is on the road in these troubled times.”
After we were properly censured and humbled, we forcefully put a few loaves of bread and some jam in the cabin for him and his cleaner to eat on the way. By then our friend from Haryana had cooled down. When we asked him to join us for a cup of tea he replied with a smile, “Of course I will have a chai with you. I was wondering when you would ask!”
A total of 41 youngsters were assisted today, taking the total assisted these past 15 days to 1,749 Migrants. Hundreds of them have been helped in their onward journey from Hyderabad to the northern States, by a selfless and dedicated network of Jesuit priests, lawyers, social workers and activists. Sujaid is in constant 24×7 contact with all of them.
