: 65 stranded UP migrants left in the lurch #IndiaNEWS #Goa News Margao: Hopes of 65 migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh, who were stranded in Shiroda in Ponda, were dashed as they were â€œdriven awayâ€?

65 stranded UP migrants left in the lurch #IndiaNEWS #Goa News
Margao: Hopes of 65 migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh, who were stranded in Shiroda in Ponda, were dashed as they were â€œdriven awayâ€? from the Margao railway station where they had reached by walking. The hapless migrants, most of whom are construction workers, who have already lost their jobs, were forced to run from pillar to post and are left in the lurch.

An affected migrant Shiv Kumar Ramesh said, â€œWe walked all the way from the interiors of Shiroda in Ponda to the Margao railway station with the hope of boarding a UP-bound train but police asked us to approach the collectorâ€™s office. We are unaware about the location of the office as this was our first visit to Margao. We are left deserted in the old Hospicio Hospital areas. â€?

Another stranded migrant Govind Maurea, who followed in the footsteps of his friend and came down to Goa for labour work around two years back, said, â€œWe had no money. The contractor for whom we were working has disappeared. â€?

Maurea also claimed that they first approached the Shiroda sarpanch who helped them fill up the form for registration with the district collector to book space in the special train adding, â€œWe had also sought help of local MLA on Monday and he told us to go to the Margao railway station where we would get a train to UP. Then we walked up to the station. We had left Shiroda at around 12. 30 in the afternoon, and walked straight to the Margao station by enquiring with people en-route. But when we reached there at around 4 pm, we were driven away by police who said that there is no train leaving for UP today and for the next two days. Police further told us to approach the Collectorâ€™s office at Margao. But we did not know the location. â€?

â€œWe took the Aquem road, crossed the Malbhatt areas and when reached near Hospicio hospital were exhausted and decided to take rest,â€™â€™ explains Rajesh Kumar, a 28-year-old youth who is a mason by profession. Some media persons intervened and informed the authorities.

When contacted, a senior official at the office of the district collector said that the UP government has to make payment for railways for the train facilities, which has not been done so far. He said that the incident commander Ajit Panchwadkar has been asked to make the necessary arrangement for the stranded migrants till the UP train arrangement is done.
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