Two starving migrant workers who fainted at Chennai Central remain in critical condition

CHENNAI: The condition of two of the five migrant labourers from West Bengal, who fainted at the Dr MGR Chennai Central Railway Station on Monday reportedly due to starvation, remains critical, said doctors at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. One of them is on ventilator support while the other is on critical care support.

A group of 12 workers had come to Chennai in search of agricultural work in Ponneri but did not find any employment opportunities. After failing to find jobs, they were planning to return to their native. However, they did not have money for immediate return or even for food and shelter.

On Monday, reportedly after not eating for a long period, five of them fainted at the Central Railway Station. Of these, three have recovered, but two of them remain critical. Doctors said a 35-year-old worker is on ventilator support and another, aged 51, is in critical care.

Doctors said both of them were suffering from severe dehydration and weakness, and one of them developed renal issues. When DT Next visited the hospital, the workers had only the hospital staff to look after them. It was the Government Railway Police personnel who admitted them to the hospital and helped them with other formalities.

Though the bus stop outside Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital – situated right opposite Central railway station where they fainted – often has NGOs and philanthropists distributing food for free to patients and attendants from economically backward families, these workers were seemingly unaware of it, perhaps due to the language barrier.

Officials said these workers were surviving on tea and biscuits with the limited money they had, which ran out soon. A GRP official said the other workers who were part of the group have been moved to the Greater Chennai Corporation shelter in Broadway where they are given food and shelter.

WB Governor cuts short trip, heads to Chennai

KOLKATA: West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Tuesday cut short his Kerala trip and headed for Chennai, a Raj Bhavan official said. After receiving information that five labourers fainted at the railway station and they had to be hospitalised, the Governor sanctioned financial assistance for the workers, he said. "The 12 labourers from West Bengal were stranded in Chennai without food and money, as they could not find work there," the official said.