Local Curbs, Fear Of Lockdown Spur Another Exodus Of Migrant Workers

Ranchi/Berhampur/Bengaluru: The second wave of Covid infections is sparking another reverse migration of workers returning to their home states from places reporting sharp increases in cases.

- Dhritiman Ray, Mukesh Kumar Bhatt, Hrusikesh Mohanty & B V Shivashankar

This threatens to reverse the gains from around Diwali last year when workers who had left in the first exodus had started to return to the states where they had worked.

Jharkhand is one such state to which people have started to return after several big cities imposed curbs, night curfews and lockdowns to tackle the second wave of Covid. Each day, hundreds of migrants are returning to Ranchi and other parts of the state from Maharashtra, Punjab, Delhi and Telangana and dispersing to their homes.

In Odisha, there were fears in Ganjam district of a rerun of last year’s Covid situation as migrants from hotspot states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Kerala started returning to their native places. Trains coming from Mumbai and Surat were seen to be full. At least four Odia workers in Surat have succumbed to Covid.