30 migrants who boarded private bus to UP, dropped back at Ludhiana

Harshraj Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 12

Around 30 migrant workers, who had boarded a private bus of a renowned operator to go to Uttar Pradesh, were dropped back at Ludhiana on Tuesday morning. The labourers had boarded the bus from Ludhiana on Monday evening but the driver reportedly took a U-turn before Ambala and dropped the migrant workers at the Ludhiana bus stand at around 7:30am on Tuesday.

The migrant workers said that the bus staff had charged Rs 3000 from each person to take them to Uttar Pradesh. The labourers said that they didn’t have money to survive in the city because of which they wanted to go to their home state.

“After returning, the bus staff told us to return to our homes. But we told them that our landlord will now allow us to stay. The bus staff did not return the money and dropped us at the Ludhiana bus stand,” said Raghunath, a migrant worker.

“We have been sitting outside the Ludhiana bus stand. We are hungry. The driver has now assured us that they have got the required permission to take us to UP. We don’t have any work or money to survive in the city due to which we want to go to our villages in UP,” he added.

 Another labourer said, “We had boarded the bus at around 5 pm on Monday. The driver took us to Gill Chowk, Ludhiana, where our medical screening was done. We don’t know who did our medical screening. We were then taken to Giaspura area of Ludhiana. The bus departed from Ludhiana at 10:30 pm.”

“The driver stopped the bus outside a gurdwara on the way and ate langar. Before reaching Ambala, the driver stopped the bus. After some time, he took a U-turn and started driving towards Ludhiana. We faced a lot of harassment. We want to go to our village in Uttar Pradesh as we don’t have money to arrange even ration in Ludhiana.”

A social activist, Gurpal Singh Grewal, demanded an inquiry from the district administration. “The bus staff left the migrants outside the bus stand. The migrants were sitting hungry. We are arranging meals for them. The government should mark an inquiry as the migrants were harassed. It should be inquired whether the bus company had taken the required permissions to take the migrants to UP,” Grewal said.

The bus driver, Talwinder Singh, said, “We had got the permission to take the migrants from Ludhiana to UP yesterday. But one of the buses was stopped at Muzzafarnagar in Uttar Pradesh. When we got this information, we returned to Ludhiana this morning. We have obtained a new permission today and the migrants will be taken to UP later today.”

Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Agrawal could not be contacted for a comment.  However, Punjab Medium Industries Development Board Chairman Amarjit Singh Tikka said, “I have brought the matter into notice of the district administration and the police officials.”