Migrant workers begin returning home from Kashmir

Jammu, August 17 : Despite improvement in situation in Jammu and Kashmir, migrant labourers from Kashmir valley, who have been jobless because of frequent shutdowns owing to the ongoing land shrine row for about two months, have started returning home.

Migrant workers and labourers, mostly from the eastern parts of India, who go to Kashmir every year in search of jobs, are now returning to their home due to lack of work owing to the frequent shutdowns and curfews.

Some of the labourers from Bihar said that during the monsoon season, they would venture out for greener pastures. But this year it has been different.

"We leave our villages and come here during the monsoon season because back home it is all flooded with rain water. So, we come to Kashmir in search of jobs. We do this every year so that we can earn. But this year, due to shutdowns and curfews we did not get any work during this season, therefore, we are going back home," said Santosh Kumar, a worker.

Many had migrated to Kashmir along with their families to work as daily wage workers or indulge in some pity businesses but are now back at the Jammu railway station waiting for the train to take them home.

Authorities in Jammu relaxed curfew for 15 hours from 5:00 a.m. on Sunday and people were seen on the street but these workers said that flood waters would have started receding back in Bihar by now, so they want to go back.

Every year thousands of workers migrate to Jammu and Kashmir to find a livelihood and stay there till the end of the monsoon season.

This year these migrant workers are a disappointed lot because of shrine land row that has rocked two diametrically opposed regions of the state for about two months.

ANI