An Indian state on Wednesday halted trains taking stranded migrant labourers home so that work on construction sites could restart, a move widely condemned as amounting to forced labour.
Authorities in the relatively prosperous southern state of Karnataka cancelled 10 trains for migrant workers as the chief minister appealed to them to stay, saying construction projects halted due to a coronavirus lockdown would resume. Many of India’s estimated 100 million migrant workers were left stranded with no food, shelter or income when the government imposed the world’s biggest lockdown to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus in the country of 1.3 billion. Some walked long distances home after the lockdown was imposed in late March, but others were hoping to get back to their villages on special buses and trains put on by authorities from last week.
The head of the Karnataka State Construction Workers’ central union criticised the government, saying labourers had been given no assurances about their safety and their pay had been delayed. N Manjunatha Prasad, the state official handling migrant issues, declined to comment. Federal labour ministry officials did not respond to email and telephone calls. Antony Raju, a consultant for the charity Cividep which is providing aid to migrant workers in Bengaluru, said the decision was “totally unacceptable”.
Supreme Court advocate Karuna Nundy tweeted that the state government decision had “elements of compulsion” and was prohibited by the constitution. In an open letter to the Karnataka government, labour rights campaigners, charities and citizens questioned the decision, which they said was “taken solely to appease the lobby of builders and contractors”. India’s lockdown, now extended until May 17, has taken a toll on the migrant workers who fuel large parts of the economy, from manufacturing to construction. It has triggered an exodus from cities and sparked protests by workers wanting to go home.
Many states have been worried about the “reverse migration” of workers, with builders and manufacturers raising concerns about labour shortage as India eases lockdown restrictions and allows industries to function. But Yadav is sure that he does not want to work now even if it means forgoing wages his contractor is yet to pay him or the monthly wages of 10,000 Indian rupees he will get if he goes back to work.
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
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