Urmila breathed a sigh of relief when her phone lit up with a message from her bank notifying that Rs 1,000 was credited to her account. The 32-year-old, a migrant worker from Lakhisarai in Bihar who is stuck in Faridabad in Haryana with her two young sons amid the lockdown, would now be able to provide her children with food for at least the next few days.
Similar cash transfers for thousands of migrants from Bihar and Jharkhand stuck in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore during the countrywide lockdown have been facilitated by a former migrant worker from Muzzafarpur in Bihar, who initially started by helping out migrants from his village.
After his contact number was passed on to different migrant groups, his phone has not stopped ringing.
"I started getting calls soon after the lockdown began. They (migrant workers) were hungry and sometimes sick and called for help. Since I work with labour groups here, I contacted some of them and we arranged Rs 6,000 and transferred that to their accounts," said 32-year-old Sanjay Sahni, who worked as an electrician in Delhi before returning to his native village five years ago.
"After that my phone was inundated with calls from people stranded across the country who needed immediate help," he said.
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The sheer number of distress calls to Sahni gave rise to an organised effort -- SWAN: Stranded Workers Action Network -- a motley group of around 80 researchers, students, civil society groups and labour leaders -- who formed a system by which Sahni would provide them with bank account details of stranded workers and they would contact people registered with them to directly transfer cash to these accounts.
"We have now grown to 73 volunteers who have interacted with 640 groups of stranded workers adding up to a total of 11,159 (people). Since March 27, around 6,940 people have received money through these transfers. We realised that the workers needed cash in hand to buy things according to their immediate needs. What these workers need is food and cash and not food or cash," said Sakina Dhorajiwala, Researcher, LibTech India, who is one of the volunteers at SWAN and also a co-author of a paper, "21 Days and Counting: COVID-19 Lockdown, Migrant Workers, and the Inadequacy of Welfare Measures in India."
Sahni says distress calls have started coming from workers stranded in various states, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and West Bengal to name a few, since his phone number has now been circulated among other migrant groups as well.
Thirty-four year old Ramnath, a labourer from Bihar's Muzaffarpur who is stuck in Mangalore with 21 other migrant workers since the lockdown started, could not believe when he saw Rs 6,000 in the account of one of his fellow workers. Having survived on an empty stomach for two days before money got transferred to the account in March end, the 21 men finally bought food.
"We survived on that money for five days. It was a godsend," said Ramnath.
The feeling is echoed by 35-year-old Phoolan Sahni, a migrant from Vaishali in Bihar who is stuck in Gurgaon with his five children. "I have received Rs 4500 in three instalments from SWAN and that is the only reason we are alive today," he told PTI.
PTI spoke to at least ten such migrant workers, stranded in different parts of the country, who confirmed that they received money in their accounts.
All of them said they got Sahni's number from word of mouth. Workers who received money passed on the numbers to other groups they met, either at long queues for food or on the streets.
Urmila, a widow who worked at a t-shirt factory in Faridabad before the lockdown began, said she got the number from a group of migrants from Bihar who told her that Sahni could help. "I had no idea if it would work out. But I called on the number. He said he would help and I gave him my details. I received Rs 2,000 in two installments," she said.
The migrant workers also said that earlier they could buy ration on credit. But now no one was willing to give them supplies without payment since they do not have regular income any longer.
Aparna Jain, a Mumbai-based professional transferred cash for migrants in need through SWAN after getting to know about it from a friend who was volunteering with the network. She said it felt specially fulfilling as it would have a direct effect on the life of someone who perhaps would have gone without a meal if not for the transfer.
"I registered with SWAN and in two days I received a call from them. They gave me the account details of three persons who needed help and I transferred the money directly to the workers' accounts," said Jain.
"While I am sure that all funds for these migrants are authentic rights now, this (SWAN) feels quicker and more effective. Also, this way people can use the money as they need it. As the money got credited, my husband remarked 'imagine the face of the person who just received the alert that he has received the money'. That gives a great sense of satisfaction," said Jain.
Those willing to register with SWAN to transfer money directly to migrants in need can do so on the link https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdOXmZ41dS7tbgoQzCc5HOwTl0-1ZCJcBiRPUysWfGGAVAyHQ/viewform following which a volunteer will get in touch.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
