Freebies in offing in poll season, UP labourers working in Punjab head home

Tribune News Service

Aman Sood

Patiala, February 23

From ghee to five years of free ration per family, gas cylinders, 300 units of electricity to unemployment allowance, crop loan waiver, and for girls, it is free two-wheelers and smartphones — the poll season in UP is now attracting state residents back to their home state.

As political parties in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh promise a slew of freebies and incentives to prospective voters during the last few rounds of polling, thousands of migrants from the state working in Punjab have packed their bags to return home. The large-scale migration is expected to spell trouble for thousands of Punjab farmers and industry.

To begin with, parties were offering around Rs 10,000 for votes of a family, but as the UP ballot battle heated up, the sops included government quota, free laptops and even plots, the offers which are hard to resist.

For Pritpal and his extended family of three brothers and their wives, all vegetable farm labours in Sanaur, toiling through three-month (March to May) vegetable and wheat season fetches him around Rs 20,000. But with the poll season in full swing back home in UP, he hopes to double the income in his hometown, Pratapgarh. “I will get to stay with my parents and work on my small farm too,” he says.

Waseem Anwar, a shift supervisor at a rolling mill in Mandi Gobindgarh, said he received a call from his sister informing him that candidates had promised to make their kutcha houses pucca and assured government jobs.

“I have three daughters and a son. I earn around Rs 1 lakh after working hard through the year. Going back home can change my life,” says Anwar. “In addition to free ration, there are two-wheelers and smartphones in the offing for my daughters. I will consider staying back home for a few months,” said Anwar, who hails from Domariyaganj.

For thousands like Anwar, who barely manage to eke out a living in Punjab, the UP Assembly elections and lofty promises by political parties are a God-sent opportunity to better their future.

“It makes sense to return to UP. We leave our homes and families behind to come and work here. And what do we get? A tough life and limited savings. Going back means staying with the family and who knows, one of us may land a government job, as promised,” says Anil Yadav , head of a six-member family, waiting at the Rajpura railway station to return to Shahganj.

The migration is worrying landlords. “The wheat harvesting season is almost here and paddy season will follow. With the labour returning home, the already high labour input costs will spiral,” says Diljot Singh from Ghanaur.

“They will not return before three months, so wheat harvest will suffer,” he says. The farm labour that comes from UP specialises in paddy transplantation and is an asset during the season,” he said.

Makes sense to return home

We leave our families behind to work in Punjab. And what do we get in return? A tough life and limited savings. It makes sense to return to UP. Who knows, some of us may land a government job, as promised. — Anil Yadav, Shahganj native

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