Patna : Chandeshwar Prasad and Mahesh Yadav, both migrant workers from Bihar, are on unscheduled visit to their homes, as the factory owners told them to take a break and visit their families, after production was hit badly in the wake of demonetisation.
“This ‘notebandi’ (demonetisation) has created cash crunch that led owners of big, medium and small production units to cut working days and hours. That rendered people like us jobless and we are now back home,” said Prasad.
Some had returned home in the last week of November and more are likely in the coming days, said Prasad, in his mid 30s, and Yadav, in his late 40s, soon after reaching Patna Railway Station on Monday by Sealdah-Amritsar Express.
Prasad and Yadav, both from Vaishali district, work in an ancillary unit which makes parts for bicycles in Ludhiana in Punjab.
“We never expected to visit home in winter (December). The situation created by notebandi forced us to return to Bihar. Our factory owners promised to call us back when the demand for production picks up,” they said. “After the demand for bicycles, hosiery or other garments went down in the market, workers were told that they would get less hours of work and no overtime. We used to earn Rs 18,000 to Rs 25,000 every month, depending on overtime,” Yadav said.
Mainsh Kumar Sharma and Sushil Choudhary, residents of Tajpur in Samastipur district, reached here by Surat-Bhagalpur Express. They said notebandi has badly hit the diamond industry in Surat and hundreds of workers like them have been asked to proceed on holiday. Surat is the world’s diamond hub, which for decades has been one of the dream destinations of migrant workers from Bihar.
That is not all. Hundreds of workers employed in the farmlands of Punjab, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Assam have also been returning Bihar. This is first time that migrant workers in such large numbers are returning to Bihar during the winter, an unseasonal time for them to get back home in their villages or small towns. –IANS
