New Delhi, Apr 8 (PTI) Some hid their departure behind made-up family occasions, others quietly admitted the truth, but all left with heavy bags and heavier hearts. The LPG crisis is forcing migrants to leave the city for their villages, hoping the separation from the place they call home will be brief.
Railway stations across Delhi-NCR seem busier than usual. Hundreds of migrant labourers stream out with their belongings — mattresses, utensils, and multiple bags piled high on their heads and shoulders.
The reasons: shortage of LPG cylinders, delays in refilling, and soaring black-market prices.
Disappointment writ large on the face of Radhey Sham, 38, who worked as a gig worker by day and a security guard by night. He decided to return to his village in Bithoor, Uttar Pradesh, after multiple failed attempts to get an LPG cylinder.
Queuing to buy tickets at Anand Vihar Railway Station with his Blinkit delivery bag — this time packed with his own belongings — in tow, he worries about his family of four.
“Even after doing multiple jobs, I don’t make more than Rs 20,000. My wife works in nearby houses and adds another Rs 5,000. I have two grown-up children to look after. Managing expenses has already been difficult. How can I afford Rs 3,000 for an LPG cylinder? “I decided it’s better to leave and save on rent. In the village, we can still cook on a chulha. Hopefully, things will improve in a month, and I’ll be back,” Shyam said in a broken voice, as his wife and children tried to console him.
The story was no different for Suman Verma. But whether out of hesitation or shame, the 29-year-old daily wager, balancing multiple gunny bags, said he was leaving for a wedding.
His class 5-going son, Anshu Verma, was quick to reveal the truth once his father stepped away to buy tickets for Bihar at the New Delhi Railway Station.
“We all know the real reason. A lockdown is about to happen. My father said all shops will shut and we won’t be able to return later. We had already run out of gas, and my mother was cooking on a makeshift stove,” Anshu said, with a maturity that belied his age.
The subsidised 14.2-kg LPG cylinders, currently priced at Rs 913 in Delhi for regular domestic connections, were earlier accessible to migrant labourers — without proper papers and household connection — at a premium of Rs 100–200. Now, the same cylinders are being sold on the black market for Rs 3,000 or more.
There has also been a shortage of 5-kg LPG cylinders, which are typically available through distributors without requiring a formal connection.
The government on Tuesday said it had doubled the daily quota of market-priced 5-kg LPG cylinders for migrant workers, as part of efforts to stabilise fuel supplies amid disruptions linked to tensions around the Strait of Hormuz.
Porters, who witness the daily bustle at these railway stations, confirm the migrant exodus.
“The New Delhi Railway Station is always crowded, but yes, there has been a noticeable surge lately. I talk to the people, the migrant labourers moving out with their families, and they say, ‘lockdown hone wala hai.’ “Most of them are leaving because of the LPG crisis. Their earnings are low, but expenses are high. Honestly, if things don’t improve, even I’m thinking of leaving,” said Madhya Pradesh native Jagdish, who has been working as a porter for the past several years.
For Vishnu Kumar, 25, standing quietly beside his duffel bag and waiting for the train, returning home to Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh, was an obvious choice after his employer, a restaurateur in Noida, asked him to find a new job.
Kumar, who had come to Delhi two years ago to work as a cook, was forced to grapple with both joblessness and a hustle for fuel.
“My employer himself wasn’t sure if he could keep the business running. How could he keep me on the job? We were four people working under him, and now it’s just the owner and one more.
“The rest of us, who aren’t originally from the city, were asked to leave. It doesn’t make sense to stay here without work. I’ll go home, figure things out, and see if I can find a job there,” Kumar said, with no immediate plans to return.
An elderly couple waited patiently at the Anand Vihar station, surrounded by bags bursting at the seams. Unlike Kumar, the LPG crisis wasn’t the first reason for their departure, but it became the final push.
Om Prakash, the husband, ran a small vegetable stall for years in Noida’s Chhalera village, earning just enough to get by.
With rising inflation and their children married off, the couple had long considered returning to their native village in Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, where life is simpler, and resources are affordable.
“The LPG was the last straw. We had to borrow an induction stove to cook. It became too difficult to live here. In the village, we can manage, eat, and sleep peacefully. It’s not easy to leave after so many years, but this is better for us now,” he said, with his wife Nirmala nodding in agreement. PTI MG VN VN
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