Other state workers in TN appeal for more services, comfort

CHENNAI: The thought of travelling home to his family for Nuakhi, the annual harvest festival, is something that 27-year-old Deepak Trikey of Odisha;s Balangir district eagerly waits for. But, the joy soon fades away as every journey back home has been an agonising experience, as thousands of migrant workers like him travel in packed train coaches and are pushed to the limits of desperation as they even end up travelling in toilets.

Almost every train journey back home leaves a distasteful experience for several migrant workers. Absence of adequate trains connecting parts of southern states to north and north eastern states remains a huge problem for the migrant workers who solely depend on the railways for travelling. If travelling during normal times is itself difficult, festive seasons are worse as trains run packed to capacity.

There are incidents of heated arguments between passengers in reserved compartments and migrant labourers and it may be recalled that around 300 migrant labourers were deboarded from Trivandrum-Gorakhpur Express at Salem Junction and similar incident took place on the outskirts of Chennai a few months ago.

With unreserved coaches numbering only a few, some of them recount agonising experiences of travelling in reserved coaches, with seven persons sharing a berth that can accommodate only three passengers for sitting. “I have tried booking tickets two months prior to the festival of Nuakhai in the month of September, but I never manage to get a confirmed ticket. Even booking a ticket through tatkal is not possible. In the end, there is no choice but to board the train without a confirmed ticket,” said Trikey.

“We desperately search for people from our native state or district travelling in the same train with confirmed tickets to request them to allow us to travel alongside. Mostly, we are at the mercy of passengers travelling with confirmed tickets. Many of them look down on us and even abuse us for occupying the passage,” he said and wondered who is to blame for the painful journey despite paying their hard earned money for the tickets.

Devnath (name changed) of Kaimur district in Bihar, a labourer in a manufacturing sector and a farmer back home, said, “We wonder why the Railways and the government are not looking at our problems. We are not travelling free. But, we are forced to travel like a herd of animals in trains. It is really humiliating and below our dignity,” said the graduate, while his friends also echoed the same.

They noted that sometimes, they wait for a day or two in and around the railway stations to board trains to their native states during the festive season. They questioned why the government does not operate special trains or add additional coaches during festival seasons to help them to travel peacefully.

Bernard D’ Sami, a professor in Loyola College and expert in migrant labourers, said the volume of migrant workers from north and north eastern states - including Odisha, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal - has increased manifold in Tamil Nadu. “The railways need to operate trains according to this volume, particularly during festive seasons. This will not only help the workers, but also help in revenue generation for the railways,” he said.