W.B. staff take uppujowork in metropolis amid concern of motion in opposition to unlawful immigrants

Several artisans and staff from West Bengal, who come to Delhi-NCR yearly for Durga Puja pandal building and spiritual performances, mentioned they had been hesitant to choose up work this time, fearing “harassment or mistreatment”, however did so just for the “sake of livelihood”.

They mentioned their concern stemmed from a Delhi Police drive to establish “unlawful” Bangladeshi staying within the Capital. During the drive, a number of circumstances of alleged “incorrect identification” and “harassment” surfaced.

Madhob Das, 48, from Birbhum, West Bengal, had come to Delhi for adornment work of a Durga Puja pandal at Chittaranjan Park’s A-Block. “I’ve a crew of over 50 individuals who include me to work at a number of pandals in Delhi and Noida. Unlike earlier years, the employees have been skeptical about travelling to Delhi-NCR, fearing mistreatment by the authorities,” mentioned Mr. Das.

To guarantee the graceful conduct of the work, Mr. Das had requested all his crew members to hold all obligatory paperwork, together with id proofs, with them and had additionally saved a duplicate of their paperwork with himself. “The ordeal of Bengali migrants in Delhi-NCR is thought to all of us hailing from the small cities of Bengal. So, after I accepted the work supply, I made it necessary for all to hold all paperwork,” he added.

Jana Mondal, 52, a dhaki (drum) participant, who will likely be acting at one other pandal in C.R. Park, mentioned the Haryana police had questioned his cousin and sister-in-law earlier this 12 months, “suspecting” them to be Bangladeshi. “Despite such fears, my musical group and I travelled to Delhi just for the sake of livelihood,” mentioned Mr. Mondal, who hails from South 24 Parganas. He mentioned that the five-day work at Durga Puja earns them ₹40,000.

Another dhaki participant, Nurul Sheikh, 34, mentioned he was able to take up work in Delhi however not in Noida. “I’ve been coming to Delhi because the age of seven. Despite good affords, I’ve stopped taking work in Noida, fearing harassment,” mentioned Mr. Sheikh.

A resident of Malda, West Bengal, Mr. Sheikh mentioned that an individual’s faith doesn’t matter in his village in the case of collaborating in Durga Puja. “Now, we take bookings solely from a household in Delhi, who’ve roots to our village and don’t mistreat us,” he mentioned.

A Durga Puja organiser in Delhi, who needs to stay nameless, instructed The Hindu that a number of staff coming from Bengal enquire whether or not they should share id playing cards nicely upfront