By Matters India Reporter
Bhubaneswar, Sept 4, 2020: The plight of migrants in India during the Covid-19 pandemic is far from over, says a nun, who has been helping migrants since the country went to lockdown March 24 night.
After more than six months, hundreds of migrants are still struggling to return to their native places from different parts of the country, Sister Sujata Jena, a member of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Congregation, told Matters India on September 4.
“At this time, migrants have been my priority. A few days ago, a group of guest workers returned from Tamil Nadu. They were in Baramunda bus terminal, Bhubaneswar,” she described.
They had not eaten anything for the two days along the journey as they had paid all their money for transportation.
These guest workers were supposed to go to Kalahandi district, 392 kilometers west of Bhubaneswar, the state capital.
At midnight the bus from Tamil Nadu had let them get down by Nayapalli, near Bhubaneswar.
“I had to lead them at that time to go to Baramunda. The next morning with heavy rain went to Baramunda to meet them, arranged their transportation, and shared some food with them,” said Sister Jena, a practicing lawyer at High Court, Cuttack.
She said the group had four children.
“How can I be quietly following my usual routine when people tell me their children are hungry?” she asked.
Since last March, Sister Jena has managed travel arrangements with food provisions with government officials for the stranded migrants in southern Indian states, so that they could return to their villages in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal.
“This is where I understand what it means to share life and become part of the lives of the margins,” said Sister Jena, a human rights activist and a freelance journalist.
“Social justice is my passion and it is my priority. I do journalism in order to do social justice,” she added.