More than 900 migrant workers from Jharkhand who were working in the Nilgiris were sent to Coimbatore in special buses, from where they will board a special train headed towards their home State on Thursday.
Officials said that a total of 918 migrant workers, primarily employed in tea factories and in the construction industry, who had applied for permission to be allowed to go back to Jharkhand with the district administration, were allowed to board 23 specially- arranged buses from Udhagamandalam to Mettupalayam. They will then board a special train from there which will take them to Jharkhand, officials said.
I. Irfan, a migrant worker from Jharkhand, said that he had applied for permission to go home more than a month ago as he was unable to find work and could no longer afford to stay in the Nilgiris. “My parents asked me to come back home, but we have been facing difficulties in getting permissions to return, as the district administration was waiting for concurrence from Jharkhand to allow us to return,” said Mr. Irfan.
The migrant workers were given breakfast before they departed for Coimbatore, with officials stating that the railways has made arrangements to provide meals for them during the course of their journey.
