Hyderabad: Truckers fleece migrant workers

Hyderabad: Kishan Singh, a grill worker wanted to go Dewas in Madhya Pradesh and is standing along with his family at Medchal highway. He was one among many migrant workers waiting patiently for specific trucks with national permits returning from Telangana to come.

Reason being, a truck with a national permit with Madhya Pradesh registration would be less expensive when compared to others. According to him, taking advantage of the situation many of the truck drivers have been fleecing the little left savings with which some like him wanted to go home.

For example, he can pay Rs 1,500 to 2,000 for his entire family of four members to a truck driver returning directly to MP. Otherwise, he has to travel in a truck to places like Nanded, Latur or Nagpur. From there, again he has to catch another truck and opt for other modes of transportation to reach Dewas.

But, the truck drivers are charging anywhere from Rs 1,000 upward per head depending on the situation to drop the migrants at places like Nanded and Latur. If it is a family of four members, then, he has to spend more than Rs 2,000, for a distance which is not even half to reach his destination. However, some like Sivikumar and the like were luckier as the number of trucks from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh returning from Telangana during the current lockdown period is more. "We can travel directly by getting into the trucks to reach our state. But, charges collected for each to UP is Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000," he added. Lack of proper information on the Shramik Express, a feeling of getting back home at the earliest has turned the Medhcal junction adjacent to the national highway,a way-side bus station. However, the only exception is that, in place of buses, it was the trucks with national permits fetching passengers to take them to their destinations.

The workers cannot complain to the police as any intervention of police would not allow them to travel in the trucks. This, the migrants feel is helping the truck drivers to exploit the migrant workers waiting to return to their homes.