Around 300 migrant workers, both men and women, returned to their native district of South Dinajpur from Gurgaon in the past 24 hours to avoid alleged harassment by the police and the administration in Haryana.

While around 200 workers reached Buniadpur in South Dinajpur on Monday in four buses, two other buses brought back 100 people from Gurgaon on Tuesday.

Ever since the harassment of Bengali-speaking migrant workers has been reported in other states, this is the largest group of workers who have arrived in any district of
north Bengal.

“All of us had been working in Gurgaon and its neighbouring areas for years. But in the past few days, policemen reached our accommodations and harassed us over the suspicion that we are Bangladeshis. Even though we showed them all documents to prove that we are bona fide Indian citizens, they didn’t pay heed to us,” said Osman Ghani, who reached Buniadpur on Tuesday.

“That is why we hired buses, took our belongings and returned home. We don’t know when we will be able to return to our workplaces,” he added.

The buses from Gurgaon have reached Rangapukur in ward 1 of Buniadpur town, from where the workers left for their villages.

According to them, most of them used to work as cleaning staff in different housing complexes and commercial establishments.

“Some of us were engaged in the construction sites while a section of the women used to work as cooks and housemaids. All of us felt concerned, as anybody speaking in Bengali has to furnish proper documents to the police. It is disappointing that we have been harassed only because we are from Bengal and speak Bengali,” Masood Karim, another worker who is from Bansihari block of the district, said.

The Haryana police, he alleged, have regularly visited their residential quarters, interrogated them and checked their identity proofs.

He said that although the police had not detained them, they were “advised” to leave for their native villages or else, they would face “legal steps”.

“There had been instances of workers like us being taken to police custody and kept in community halls or similar facilities for days. We fail to understand why the Haryana police are after the migrant workers from Bengal,” Karim added.

Sources in the South Dinajpur district administration stated that a section of workers who had returned on Monday reached state government offices, and the local panchayats and municipalities on Tuesday to confirm that their identity proofs, land documents, and other papers were genuine.

“We left Gurgaon because of the insecurity and the apprehension that we might be detained and harassed. But back at home, it would be tough for us to find a proper job that suits the earnings we used to make there,” said another worker.

“Our families are entirely dependent on us. We don’t know how to run the families now,” he added.

The South Dinajpur police went to Rangapukur and monitored the movement of
the workers.

“The administration is with them. Block administrations have been asked to extend all possible help to the workers,” said Bijin Krishna, the district magistrate of South Dinajpur.