Migrant Workers Protest at Block HQs in Bihar
MARKING some of the most impressive protests since the Covid-19 lockdown began, migrant workers held protests at over 200 Block Headquarters in Bihar on July 7, 2020. They demanded Rs 10,000 for every worker as lockdown allowance, a social audit of every quarantine facility, and rations and work for all.
Thousands of migrant workers responded to the joint call by CPIML, AICCTU, AIARLA and Pravasi Mazdoor Union and reached Block HQs across Bihar where they submitted memorandums to the Block Development Officers. In a joint statement, CPIML State Secretary Kunal and AIARLA General Secretary Dhirendra Jha said that this protest is an expression of the anger migrant workers are feeling at being so treacherously betrayed by the BJP and JDU.
The leaders said that the Bihar government has given assurances to migrant workers that they would be given work as per their skills and qualification; but in reality the Bihar government is neither arranging Corona tests nor providing work for migrant workers. On the one hand Corona infection is increasing exponentially, and on the other hand migrant workers, in the absence of work here, are forced to go back to outside States in search of work. BJP-JDU have turned a completely blind eye to these issues and are busy with trying to steal the Bihar election through virtual rallies, leaving the people of Bihar to fend for themselves.
On 7 July thousands of migrant workers reached hundreds of Block HQs across Bihar to protest against this betrayal by the government and demand guarantee of work/employment. The main demands of the protest were: Rs 10000 Lockdown Allowance for migrant workers and all other self-employed people including barbers, carpenters, ironsmiths, potters, rickshaw-handcart-tempo drivers and shopkeepers; 10 kg food grains per person for 6 months for all families outside the income tax ambit; work for migrant workers according to their skills and qualifications, and interest-free loans for people wishing to engage in self-employment; 200 days’ work and Rs 500 minimum wages under MNREGA and extension of the scheme to cities also; alternative arrangements for education of children of migrant workers who have returned to Bihar; KCC loan waivers for farmers and sharecroppers; complete loan waivers for SHGs; 24 hours availability of doctors and Covid treatment at Primary Health Centers; Covid testing ICU arrangements at District Hospitals; Rs 2000 as earlier announced for workers who have come out of quarantine centers, and social audit of quarantine arrangement expenditure.
The protests were held at all Blocks in Districts including Darbhanga, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Saharasa, Gopalganj, Nalanda, Bhojpur, Arwal and Patna Rural.
The Modi regime’s unplanned lockdown forced migrant workers to suffer massive cruelties in their bid to get back to their villages. And those who have returned, are being exposed to a host of illnesses in quarantine centres which lack even the most basic facilities including water, soap, properly spaced beds and mosquito nets. They have suffered loss of employment and need work urgently. MNREGA work is still not available to most who seek it. Protestors pointed out that even the Rs 2000 promised by the Bihar Government to every worker had not been given. While the Prime Minister has announced that all will get food till the Chhat festival, this remains an empty promise, as people are being forced to stand in long queues, often in vain, for rations.
