“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”. – Mahatma Gandhi

INTRODUCTION

Legal Aid Society of DME law school took up an initiative of helping the stranded labours in Delhi NCR. Nationwide lockdown had its effect on every sector of the economy, but the worst effected were the labourers. These labourers came to Delhi NCR from different parts of India, there problems were severe because they were fighting the pandemic as well as poverty. Home Ministry advised the state governments to make certain arrangements for safe passage of labours that are stuck in different states that’s when we stepped in and tried to assist the labours to fill out forms or work out an arrangement with the administration to make their travel uninterrupted. There were different arrangements for different states hence it was a challenge for us to enrol the subjects accordingly and the immense crowd made things even harder, but with perseverance we eventually made out a way which was systematic, with a word of caution with the concerned faculties we proceeded with the work. We all enthusiastically took up this work under the instructions of Mukesh Kalwani sir and Kush Kalra sir.

MECHANISM OF WORK

Due the Covid 19 situation it was difficult to go out and help the needy, our team worked from their respective homes with several Ngo’s who gave us the data of the stranded person in different parts of Delhi NCR, we divided the contacts amongst ourselves and got started with the assistance the priority was to fill out the forms that were offered for the special “Shramik special” trains that were started to help them, if that arrangement was unavailable we directed them to bus stands in Ghaziabad from where inter districts busses were available for the state of UP.The following are the details of migrants shared by the team member with the assistance provided to them from their end.

INDIVIDUAL WORK DONE BY VOLUNTEERS

DHRUV GUPTA AND AASHI SHARMA (STUDENTS OF BA.LLB, 4^TH YEAR, SECTION B)

I am honoured to be part of the legal Aid team of our college, my duty was to work on the ground and provide the inputs of the stranded person to the team. I teamed up with my NGO and provided food and water to the stranded. We took their contacts and forwarded them to the group to divide the job amongst them. I also circulated the contact details of Ankit Mishra amongst the others who were managing the division of work in different teammates.

SIMRAN KHANNA (STUDENT OF BBA.LLB, 4^TH YEAR, SECTION B)

It was an honor for me to work with the legal aid society and be a part of a noble cause. My work included guiding the team on how to start working with the initiative. I provided with basic outline of the working system of UP government to the team also I suggested the team to contact their house helps, drivers etc so that they may get some lead . I informed the team members about almost 20 workers that were in need of assistance and the team contacted them and helped them.

I went to Delhi Ghaziabad border to contact the authorities and informed them about the working of our team members so that they can work easily at the border without any hindrance.

PRATEEK JAIN (STUDENT OF BA.LLB, 4^TH YEAR, SECTION C)

DETAILS OF ASSISTANCE PROVIDED TO THE NEEDY PERSON

Name of the stranded person: Arun Kumar

Date of Birth: 01/01/2004

Residential Address: S/O Chhotelal, Gram-PuraThakurai Post-Sameda, Chandesar, Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, 276128

Contact Number: 8178645990

Aadhaar Number: 964504074325

On 24^th May 2020, I have contacted Arun Kumar. According to the details furnished by him, he and his father was stranded at GhazipurMandi and wanted to reach his home in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh. As soon as I received the information and on the basis of details furnished by him, I have filled the form as provided by the Government of Delhi for placing stranded migrants back to their hometown through railway route. After the form is filled, the confirmation for the same is received on behalf of the government of Delhi and I conveyed this message to Arun Kumar.

On 25^th May 2020, Arun Kumar contacted me and told that his railway booking is confirmed to Azamgarh for 26.05.2020 and he have to reach the station by 8:00 am for the screening at Kautilya Government Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalya, Chirag Enclave, Greater Kailash, New Delhi.  He also sent me the confirmation message he received on behalf of the Delhi government.

YASSER WALI (STUDENT OF BA.LLB, 4^TH YEAR, SECTION C)

A family of 5 migrants was about to run out of food supplies.

Location: Gali No. 7, Old Seelampur, Delhi – 110031

Contact- 8860064974

I got the above information on the night of 20^th May 2020 after this I started working on it and called on the phone number mentioned above to help them, a lady picked up the phone her age was 25 pursuing M.A her father runs a shop on rent which was closed because of the lockdown so there was problem in the family for food supplies. Rest I assured them that I along with the other members of the legal aid committee will help them and will take them out of this situation.

2. Name– Keturam

Contact no- 7082275118

I got the information that around 14 people along with Keturam are standing at AnandVihar bus terminal, they were not having any idea from where to take the bus for their village to Sitapur, UP. They were been given wrong information that no bus is going from the terminal and to leave the place. I, with the help virtual assistance coordinated with the people there to look out if there is a bus which will go to their designated destination and it turned out to be a success as they found the bus which was going to Sitapur,UP. Keturam called me again and gave me the information that with your assistance we found the bus to our village and we are thankful, I also told them maintain social distancing from each other as they were in a large group of 25 people.

3. Noor Akhtar, Imran

I, along with one of my group member worked on this and we got a call in night that migrant labours were being brought to government camp near MayurVihar phase-2 , East Delhi from Anand Vihar Bus Terminal with the on duty DTC buses. They were tensed about the situation that why they were being brought here and they were having no idea. They were 200 people being brought to the camp as furnished by the labour Noor Akhtar they wanted to go to their home. Some of them were from Sitapur and some were from Faizabad.

Next morning I visited the place personally to look for the situation, I had a talk with the civil defence staff there appointed I introduced myself to them with my post in the legal aid committee and they told me that yes there are people who were brought from the bus terminal last night no need to worry they will be send to their homes from train and they will depart from here by afternoon towards the railway station. We contacted the people who called us and told the whole conversation. Thereafter by afternoon they contacted us and said they are being taken to the railway station and from there they will be sitting in the train namely Shramik Express which was a special train inaugurated by the government of India for our migrant labours to reach their destination home.

NIKHIL MOGHA (STUDENT OF BA.LLB, 4^TH YEAR, SECTION C)

Name of the stranded person:-Hamidullah

Residence:-West Bengal

Stranded at:-Ajit Nagar, Old Seelampur, Delhi – 110031

Contact No.:- +91 8799792096

On 22nd May,2020, I contacted Hamidullah. According to the details furnished by him, he was stranded at Ajit Nagar, Old Seelampur, Delhi and wanted to reach his home in West Bengal. As soon as I received the information, I contacted him and came to know that he along with 30 more people with him had reached their home. I had a discussion with him about the atrocities he faced during this crisis. There was a sense of relief from both the sides as I assured him that our platform is able to help the ones who are in dire need. I also insist him to tell about more people that he had acquaintance with, so that our service will be made available to the needy ones.

I have also contacted with other labourers and domestic helper working near me so that I can gather the information about the stranded peoples who want to reach their hometown. I also contacted my near Police Station for the collection of data and to acquire the relevant information about the relief cam. After taking their details, I filled up their form and provided him the details of the journey. 

GANESH NAIR (STUDENT OF BA.LLB, 4^TH YEAR, SECTION C)

Name-Sonilal

Location: AnandVihar ISBT

Aadhar Card No.739774716301

Contact.8574862572

Destination: Sitapur, lucknow

The above mentioned person along with 40 others were stranded at Anand Vihar ISBT Bus stand with their family. I filled railway’s form on his behalf and at the same time directed them to Kaushambi bus stand in Ghaziabad from which there were several Intrastate buses dropping the distressed labourers back to their respective home towns. After 2 days I personally called on their mobile no’s and asked about their well-being. They informed that they safely reached their respective hometowns, and were tested negative.

SAURABH KUMAR (STUDENT OF BA.LLB, 4^TH YEAR, SECTION A)

Name – Julfikar Ansari

Mobile no.- 9631654585

Name – Manoj Mishra

Mobile no.- 8800103191

I received this information from the legal aid team, and contacted these contacts. He was a migrant stuck with 6 other families, I assisted them in filling forms for the Shramik special train. They received a notification within an hour. After 5 days I called back to keep a check on their journey and found out that they were in a quarantine centre at Faizabad district hospital. They were informed by the staff that they will be kept there for 14 days after which they can proceed for their respective residence.

ANKIT MISHRA (STUDENT OF BA.LLB, 4^TH YEAR, SECTION C)

As the student convenor of this cell I had the huge responsibility of allotment of task to the members and their follow ups, my call lists were flooded with unknown mobile numbers of people who needed assistance. I personally worked with Yasser in the east Vinod Nagar camp, we went together and personally talked with the officials to know the whereabouts of the stranded. We made a list of the 200 workers with their contacts. Some were of UP and others belonged to Bihar. I personally have talked to every number that was provided and according to the locality of the member we allotted him the task. As the members of this cell are from diverse areas of Delhi NCR we were both physically and mentally prepared to give the required assistance to the stranded.

The only challenge during this whole journey was to gather up the contact details of needy, as nobody wanted to risk their well-being for this noble cause but with the support of NGO’s of Mr. Dhruv Gupta and Ms. Simran Khanna, we were able to furnish that information. The whole exercise was conceptualised by Mukesh sir and duly coordinated and supervised by Kush sir.

Name of stranded person- Jagjivan

Location: AnandVihar ISBT

Aadhar Card No.463532730205

Contact.9871672130

This person was stranded on AnandVihar ISBT for two days and was looking up options for going to his hometown in Faizabad, he had already filled the Shramik special form but there was no reply, hence he was directed to Laal Kuan bus stand in Ghaziabad to board the bus going to his hometown.

SUMMARY

But even with the inspiration of others, it’s understandable that we sometimes think the world’s problems are so big that we can do little to help. On our own, we cannot end wars or wipe out injustice, but the cumulative impact of thousands of small acts of goodness can be bigger than we imagine.

Indian migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic have faced multiple hardships. With factories and workplaces shut down due to the lockdown imposed in the country, millions of migrant workers had to deal with the loss of income, food shortages and uncertainty about their future. Following this, many of them and their families went hungry. Thousands of them then began walking back home, with no means of transport due to the lockdown.

With this belief and doing something on my end I decided to help migrant worker to reach there home by filling  their forms which is generated by the government.

One should be kind and helpful as much as he can.

DME LEGAL AID SOCIETY

STUDENT’S EXECUTIVE BODY

• ANKIT MISHRA- CONVENER
• YASSER WALI- CO- CONVENER
• SAURABH KUMAR- CO- CONVENER
• DHRUV GUPTA- EXECUTIVE MEMBER
• AASHI SHARMA- EXECUTIVE MEMBER
• NIKHIL MOGHA- EXECUTIVE MEMBER
• SIMRAN KHANNA- EXECUTIVE MEMBER
• PRATEEK JAIN- EXECUTIVE MEMBER
• GANESH NAIR- EXECUTIVE MEMBER
• DEVESH MAKHIJA- EXECUTIVE MEMBER
• RISHABH MATHUR- EXECUTIVE MEMBER
• YASH SHARMA- EXECUTIVE MEMBER