Click to play videoPune: Although Raj Thackeray stays mum after instigating the insider versus outsider debate, it is the fear that’s still driving hundreds of migrants from UP and Bihar out of the state.
As the migrants return home, it is Pune's booming real estate has taken a hit in Maharashtra. Shanties are getting vacated and it's the construction sector that's taking a real hit. Losses are piling up as 50,000 under construction flats await completion in Pune.
"I had about 1000 labourers working for me. However, now I am left with only about 40 to 50 people,” says Construction site manager, S Saste.
In the last fortnight, nearly 60 per cent of the city's labour force has left, crippling an industry where almost 70 per cent of the labourers are from outside the state.
“The work has almost come to a standstill since the time the issue of north Indians in Maharashtra has begun,” says S Saste.
Everyday hundreds of migrants wait on these platforms for any train that will take them back home or anywhere outside Maharashtra. The fear of being sidelined and attacked as north Indians has made them so firm to go back home, that even losing livelihood does not matter anymore.
Officials say sale of tickets for north India-bound trains has jumped 40 per cent this month compared to the same period last year.
People are leaving their jobs as they fear being attacked for being north Indians.
“There is fear all around. Raj Thackeray has scared us. We will come back only when everything is fine, else we will work in our land,” says Rajendra, someone who is boarding the train to get out of Maharashtra.
The war of words on the Maharashtrian-non Maharashtrian issue might be over for now. However, fear of more attacks is forcing a serious reverse migration.
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