Stranded Bihar migrants in Ghazipur fish mandi seek to return home

May 06, 2020

By Ajit K Jha
New Delhi [India], May 6 : Amid the lockdown, Delhi's Ghazipur fish mandi is witnessing a huge slump in sales and with no source of earning left, the stranded migrants of Bihar working here are trying to seek help to rush back home.
A migrant worker, Akhtar who was holding a long list of names of the stranded migrants and their phone numbers, told ANI that they are under an immense stress due to no work amid lockdown and they have not even received any Government aid so far.
"Around 400 to 500 people from Bihar's Araria district are stranded here. We have not received any facility from the Government like ration and our test (of COVID-19) have also not been conducted yet. We all have prepared a list and of migrants, we all want to go back," said Akhtar.
"Nobody has come here so far to check on us. During the season time around 3000 to 4000 labourers work here but now there are only 1000 to 1200 labourers who want to return to their native States. Most of them are from Bihar," he added.
The migrants here have urged the Bihar Government to call them back at the earliest.
"Now that we are stranded here, we ourselves have prepared a list of migrants who are seeking to return home. Nobody is helping us. The list consists of 450 people who are willing to return. There is no sale of fishes, we are somehow managing to eat food by whatever money we have saved," said Akmal Husain, a migrant worker.
"Government has not provided with any ration or aid. We are obeying Government's order and we are ready to go in quarantine once we reach back," he added.