Eager to return home, migrant workers gather in Coimbatore

Chennai, May 20 (IANS) A large number of migrant workers wanting to go back to their home states have gathered at the Sundarapuram locality in Coimbatore, the said police on Wednesday.

According to the police, three trains carrying migrant workers are expected to leave Coimbatore on Wednesday for Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

“Migrant workers are being sent back to their home states in trains on the basis of passes issued by the Tamil Nadu government. When the news of trains leaving with migrant workers spreads, non-pass holders also throng the station and other localities, demanding that they be sent back home too,” a police officer told IANS.

He said that some workers are also demanding to be sent back to Jharkhand.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami recently said that the state plans to send back 10,000 migrant workers per day to their home states and has requested them to stay at the camps till the arrangements are made.

The movement of migrant workers to their home states has snowballed into a major issue across the country.

“The migrant workers’ heart and mind were in their home states. They did not develop roots in their place of work as many industries did not internalise them, but had them as a contract worker,” Jairam Varadaraj, Managing Director, Elgi Equipments, told IANS.

Located at about 500 km from Chennai, Coimbatore is a hub of industrial and commercial activity.

–IANS

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