Vasuma Das has been waiting with her children, two-year-old Subrasta and six-year-old Ansuman, for nearly two hours at Hitex in Madhapur so that her application to return to her home state of Odisha is processed. Vasuma is one of the few thousands from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar who converged there in the hope to go back to home in trains which the Telangana government had announced.
As one moves towards Madhapur, one finds migrant groups varying in number of workers. Some, with sweat drenched collars, are carrying heavy bags, others are carrying children. They are walking towards either Hitex or JRC Convention near Whisper Valley, another place where applications are processed.
“My husband used to work as a cook at a hotel in Madhapur. But it is closed, so we will have to go back. My luck is such that I arrived here three months ago to join him, but a few days after I came, the lockdown was announced and I got stuck here,” she says, adding that there is a family support system back home and unless there is a semblance of normalcy, it is better to stay in Odisha.
While Vasuma had to wait for about a couple of hours, Dheeraj, another migrant worker from Uttar Pradesh, says he has been standing near the gates for longer. “Sir, I have been here for nearly around four hours waiting for my turn. People are going in, but it is slow and it is hot. Can you please help me?” he says, as beads of sweat form on his brow. A handful, who stay close, said they arrived as early as 5 am.
A small group arrived at the Jubilee Hills Metro Station where police were entering details of each worker. But since they were residents of an area within the Banjara Hills police station limits, they were told to go there. The absence of public transport made travelling difficult and they they had to go on foot. Speaking to The Hindu, Cyberabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjar said that by the end of the day, around 40,000 applications of migrant workers were processed. “These include those at various centres including Hitex, JRC Conventions and also at function halls within the commissionerate limits,” he said.
Meanwhile, requisitions for buses to transport migrant workers to railway stations began to pour in at the RTC office. A senior official said that these requisitions for buses from the tri-commissionerate were being constantly updated. “As of now, I can say that approximately 600 buses will be used,” he said.
