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Hindustan Times
30-07-2025
- Hindustan Times
Caught between identity, survival: Tale of a Gurugram exodus
For Rashida Bibi, Fridays are virtually luxurious. That day, one of the families she works for gives her a weekly break, another makes work trips to Delhi so they leave early, and a third hosts an event so they hire specialised staff. That means instead of 5.30am, she wakes up at a leisurely 8am. Her sore muscles are allowed some rest, her chai simmers longer, and her trip to the market is more of a canter and not the usual dash. The only people who grudge her Fridays are her two children, aged eight and five, who spend a tense morning under the watchful eyes of a mother anxious about their progress in school. Over the past week, nearly 1,000 families of Bengali-speaking migrant workers have packed up and left Gurugram in hired trucks and buses.(HT Photo) Last Friday, though, was anything but languid. Crouched on the floor of her shanty made of corrugated tin sheets held aloft by sticks of bamboo, Bibi sorted her family's meagre belongings into essential and disposable. Stained sheets, sarees, and her husband's lungis and shirts in one steel box, the children's books and documents into the almost new suitcase her employers gave her last year, and pots and pans she had painstakingly collected over the years into a makeshift tarp bundle. Some plastic buckets, a stack of dented plates, and a crumpled towel didn't make the cut. 'Maybe if we come back..' her voice trailed off. The migrant worker from Bengal's Murshidabad district wasn't alone. Over the past week, nearly 1,000 families of Bengali-speaking migrant workers have packed up and left Gurugram in hired trucks and buses, spooked by the city police's drive targeting undocumented immigrants. The administration has said that they are targeting undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants – part of a wider national drive across multiple states – but migrant workers allege that the opaque process has triggered anxiety and fear among poor Bengali-speaking people, forcing them to abandon their posts as sanitation workers, domestic helps, cooks, guards, and auto and rickshaw drivers. Moreover, the demand for papers beyond the usual Aadhaar or voter identity cards has caused consternation. 'This is what the government asks us to have every time. How will I get more papers? Where is the time?' Bibi asked. Rush to flee crackdown In a narrow lane behind the glittering towers of Sector 69 in Gurugram, a worn-out truck stood idling last Friday morning. Around it, families stuffed their belongings— rolled mattresses, plastic buckets, bags of clothes, battered utensils — into the open container. Aisha Khatun tried to keep her crying children calm as they clung to her kurta, begging not to leave their school and friends. 'We came here to earn with dignity,' said Khatun, a domestic worker who had lived here for three years. 'Now we are being treated like criminals. I am scared every time I hear a knock at the door. My neighbour told me the police took her husband without any notice.' In her neighbourhood, each family paid ₹25,000 to ₹30,000 to arrange their return, a bulk of it spent on transport and emergency expenses. This included truck rentals, fuel, agents, and basic provisions. 'All the money we had saved in three years was spent in a single night,' said Shabana Parveen, a resident of slums near Sector 57. 'We didn't even get our salary since we left without any notice. Our employer said they will transfer it later on UPI, but I don't even have a phone. I gave them my cousin's number.' A sudden, opaque process, say migrants The Gurugram Police drive began around July 7, in line with several similar such initiatives across the country, including in Delhi. Gurugram Police public relations officer Sandeep Kumar said the trigger was concerns about undocumented people. He also clarified that basic medical assistance and food were provided. 'There was a team assigned, but no critical medical issue arose,' he said. He added that out of over 250 picked up, only 10 were found to be actual undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh. 'All others were released after cross-verification. Everything was done under CCTV monitoring. No formal complaint of harassment was received,' he added. A senior police official blamed the panic on old videos. 'Gurugram Police have not beaten up or harasses anybody. We are just verifying the identity of migrants, and only those with no valid legal documents were detained earlier. We have reached out to the RWAs to help us in spreading awareness,' the official said. But migrant workers complain that the process was sudden and opaque, and complicated by the police's refusal to accept documents such as Aadhaar or voter IDs. 'They checked our documents and said that they have to confirm with some central list,' said Khatun. Rahim Sheikh from Badshahpur, who worked as a security guard, alleged he was detained for three days before being released. 'We were taken without notice. My wife kept waiting. I had no way to inform her. It was terrifying. We got food, but we didn't know if we would ever get out.' Nazma Sultana, a house help from Sector 46, said her husband was picked up but released later. 'He was scared out of his wits. We decided not to wait for another shock. We sold our fridge and fan to pay the truck guy.' The police said four community centres in Sector 10A, Badshapur, Sector 40 and Manesar were turned into temporary detention centres, but added that given the fear, they were changing their approach. 'We understand emotions are involved, and based on feedback, we have decided to alter our approach. Now, verification will be done locally at police beats, not at detention centres,' Kumar said. The city's underbelly People like Bibi, Khatun and Sheikh form a 400 million strong pool of internal migrants who travel from under-developed sinks in rural Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh to megacities such as Delhi, Gurugram, Bengaluru, Chennai or Hyderabad. Informal networks of kinship make this possible – Bibi, for example, came to Gurugram four years ago following the footsteps of her husband and his elder brother, who has since moved to Hyderabad. In India's metropolises that thrive on a vast but informal underbelly of civic services, migrants plug important gaps by serving in a wide range of professions. The compact might be uneasy - it took Bibi's family almost a year to occupy a permanent shanty – but it is rewarding. 'In my village, I would just be cooking and tilling someone else's fields. Here I was earning almost ₹30,000,' she said. But the recent drive upset this balance, triggering fear that the mere sound of unfamiliar or unpolished Bengali was enough to trigger suspicion. 'We started getting calls that people were being detained and sent to jail. They said there would be no bail,' said Jamal Mondal, who lived in Sector 55. 'I called a relative in Kolkata who helped arrange a truck. 45 of us left the next day.' Abdul Karim, a truck driver from Kolkata who came to deliver goods in Manesar, said he was hired by the families to ferry them back. 'They begged me with tears in their eyes. I took two full trucks of families back. The kids cried the whole way.' Mohammad Rafiq, another driver from Howrah, said he came to Gurugram to deliver marble. 'On my return, I took back 35 people,' he said. Last Saturday, HT spotted 10 trucks ferrying household goods out of slum clusters across South City 2, Sector 45, Sector 47, Palam Vihar, Sector 109, Sector 69–70, Sector 57, Wazirabad, and Badshahpur. City without 'help' The urban villages that grew like moss around upscale neighbourhoods in Gurugram are now depleted. And across the (class) divide, there is some alarm too, but for different reasons. 'Our maid left overnight. No warning,' said Reema Singh, a South City 2 resident. 'Now I do chores, work full-time, and manage a toddler. It's exhausting.' Rajiv Mehta, who lives in Sector 48, concurred. 'Our car washer disappeared. He was from West Bengal. He had been with us for five years. Now, even if others come, how do we ensure they won't leave tomorrow?' Some residents expressed empathy. 'My wife is a teacher, and I am in a sales job. Without our house help, everything is haywire,' said Vinay Malhotra. 'But we are not angry at them. They left because they were scared.' Imran Ali, a cook from Sector 57, said his employer helped him leave. 'He gave me ₹2,000 and said, 'Take care of your family.' But not everyone was that lucky. Some employers didn't even return their calls.' The departure has also triggered ripples in the city's fringe zones, where rental homes in areas such as Wazirabad, Chakkarpur, and Sikanderpur now sit empty. 'Won't detain anyone but will continue verification' Gurugram Police now say they will not detain anyone, but that verification will continue. 'We are not holding anybody, but the verification is continuing. Now, only those who come across as very suspicious will be detained,' said Kumar. Many who left Gurugram said it might be too late. 'We paid rent, followed rules, worked with dignity, and yet, we had to escape like criminals,' said Nazma. Some are certain they won't come back. 'We burnt our bridges,' said Anwar Hossain, who worked as a cook in DLF Phase 3. 'We ran, sold everything, spent every rupee. How can we come back?' Others aren't as sure. Bibi is now back in Bengal, secure in her large joint family where her sisters-in-law welcomed her. She is planning to travel to Kolkata and work there for a few months as whatever she can – cook, cleaner, helper. But she knows the market is saturated and the pay is far lower than what she was getting in Gurugram. 'We will have to go back,' she said. Noile khabo ki (What will we eat otherwise)?'
Hindustan Times
26-07-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Migrant exodus cripples Gurugram's daily life, garbage piles up
A civic and humanitarian crisis is quietly unfolding in Gurugram. Garbage on Khandsa Road in Gurugram Sector 11 on Friday. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo) In its upscale apartments and gated colonies, the signs are everywhere — uncollected garbage, stinking corridors, and families scrambling to manage chores. Over the past week, hundreds of sanitation workers, domestic helps, and daily wagers — many of them migrants from West Bengal and Assam — have left the city amid a police verification drive targeting alleged illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. What began as a law enforcement exercise has spiralled into a civic rupture, exposing how deeply Gurugram's daily rhythms rely on an invisible workforce now fleeing the city. Fearful of harassment and arbitrary detention, many have packed up overnight and left, disrupting core civic services and pushing both resident welfare associations (RWAs) and the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) into crisis mode. On Friday, the impact became unmissable. Across South City 2, Sector 45, Sector 47, Palam Vihar, Sector 109, Sector 69–70, Sector 57, Wazirabad, and Badshahpur, at least 10 trucks were seen ferrying household goods out of slum clusters. According to residents and RWAs, entire families fled under cover of darkness to avoid being stopped at police checkpoints. 'I have been working in Gurugram for four years, but now I am scared,' said Rashida Bibi, a domestic worker in Sector 45, as she loaded her belongings into a tempo bound for Murshidabad. 'People are saying we will be arrested. I don't know what's happening, so I am going home.' Mohammad Arif, a sanitation worker in Sector 69, said even those with Aadhaar cards were being questioned. 'We are not criminals, but we are being treated like that. I've decided to leave before things get worse.' Sabina Khatoon, who worked as a cook in Sector 57, said her family had already left quietly at night. 'Even if you are legal, people are suspicious. I'll return if things calm down, but for now, I'm going back to Malda.' The exodus has hit where it hurts most — cleanliness and basic domestic functioning. 'We've had no garbage collection for the last two weeks,' said Manav Singh, a resident of Palam Vihar. 'Our sanitation agency says most of its employees have left due to the police crackdown. We're now dealing with overflowing bins and stinking corridors. It's a complete breakdown.' Some residents allege that the police action has not just spurred fear but crossed into harassment. 'Our house help's family was allegedly picked up and beaten. They were asked to pay ₹10,000 to be let go,' said Prabhat Bhardwaj, president of Bellevue Central Park-2, Sector 48. 'We need a clear policy and an official ID system to avoid such chaos.' Gurugram Police, however, has denied the allegations. 'The drive is focused solely on identifying and deporting illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators. So far, 10 such individuals have been identified,' a senior officer said. 'There is no harassment involved. All procedures are monitored on camera. We've received some complaints of misinformation and are looking into them.' An advisory issued to RWAs by the police and accessed by HT stated that no legal resident or Indian citizen would face action. 'Some mischievous elements are spreading rumours that residents from certain states are being targeted. These are false. Please do not panic,' the note read. Yet, the toll on services continues to mount. MCG commissioner Pradeep Dahiya admitted that sanitation has been severely hit. 'We are conducting daily sanitation review meetings. While the situation is challenging, we won't let the city fall into crisis,' he said. 'We're engaging private contractors until new long-term agencies are on-boarded.' The fragility of the system was already exposed by the expiration of Gurugram's waste collection contract in June. Although four private agencies were roped in temporarily, the sudden loss of trained labour has brought the system to its knees. In Sector 50, the disruption has been acute. 'Many residents have small children and both parents working. With maids, car cleaners, and other workers fleeing, managing home and office is becoming impossible,' said Nilesh Tandon, RWA president of Fresco Apartments. Some residents have called for a more nuanced approach. 'The identification of Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators is a complex exercise. They often possess fake Aadhaar cards, ration cards, voter IDs,' said Major General (Retd) Subhash Gogna, a resident of Sector 79. 'This isn't a job that can be completed in a few days. We must cooperate with the police and support legitimate Bengali-speaking Indians who may otherwise be unfairly targeted.' Citizen activist Gauri Sarin, founder of Making Model Gurugram, urged RWAs to act responsibly. 'We must circulate factual notes within societies, support staff who are legitimate citizens, and avoid fuelling rumours,' she said. 'Shockingly, over 70% of RWAs don't even have verified records of their house helps or drivers.' There is no official count of how many workers have fled, but district officials estimate that over 100,000 migrants from states like West Bengal and Assam live in Gurugram. With more departures expected, the city could be staring at a prolonged civic and humanitarian crisis.
