Every day the Pushpak (meaning a flower chariot) travels towards Mumbai from Lucknow, covering a distance of 1,436 kilometres, traversing 16 major stations, across a little over 25 hours. For people migrating from Nepal and a few districts in Uttar Pradesh to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) for employment, the train is an important connection, for employment.
Kamala Bhandari, 43, was a regular passenger on the Pushpak Express. She was returning from a short vacation she took from her work as a house help in Mumbai’s Churchgate area. Radha Bhandari, 35, accompanied her mother-in-law, on her first journey to find a job in Mumbai.
On January 23, at the Government Medical College in Jalgaon city, about 400 kilometres away from Mumbai, Radha waits outside the Department of Anatomy. Her face is pale, and she is trying hard to hold back her tears. “She was the strongest person I knew, the backbone of the family. For the past 14 years, she has been working in Mumbai, and has endured a lot all her life. Even death caused her pain,” says Radha.
Radha and Kamala were among over 150 passengers in the general coach of the Pushpak Express train who, on January 22, deboarded the train over the fear of fire. Many jumped on the railway tracks, only to be mowed down by the Karnataka Express, running at 130 kmph.
“Seven Nepal nationals lost their lives among the 12 in the incident, and four Nepal nationals were injured from provinces in West Nepal, with severe injuries on their body,” said Ayush Prasad, District Collector, Jalgaon.All the deceased and injured were either visiting their families or returning to their jobs.
At the hospital, spread out across 196 acres, Radha is waiting for her mother-in-law’s body. It will be put into the ambulance and taken to her village in Sudurpashchim province in Nepal. She will travel in the ambulance, 1,022 kilometres to home. She and her brother-in-law, who had arrived in Jalgaon after the accident, refused to go back by train.
Radha Bhandari, whose mother-in-law Kamala died, waiting for her body. | Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI
Before they set out, Radha piled some soil and stones she had carried from the place Kamala died, and performed a few rituals.
Like Kamala, hundreds of people from Nepal cross the border to reach Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow district. Here, they board the train to reach other parts of India. “We don’t have exact figures on people from Nepal travelling to Mumbai as it is difficult to keep track of general coach passengers. However, at least 40% of train passengers are Nepalese. Most of the time trains are overcrowded with people sitting in the aisle,” said a railway officer.
The Census data from 2011 says that there are over 8 lakh migrants from Nepal. The 2022 Baseline Study on Cross-border Migration confirms that people migrate from Karnali and Sudurpaschim provinces.
Jobs beckon
The 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Nepal and India facilitates the free movement of people across the border of both countries. Raju Vishwakarma, belonging to the Hill Dalit community, has come to get the bodies of his relatives, Kala Kanchi Kami, 60; and Himu Vishwakarma, 11.
Raju’s father came to India as a teenager and worked as a security guard. Raju himself came to Kalyan, Thane district, when he was five and helped his father. Today, he works a double shift as a guard at night and a driver during the day. “We own only a little land and the produce is not sufficient to sell in the market. We use it only for ourselves. There are hospital bills and the children’s education. These can only be paid with money we earn here,” Raju says.
Unlike many others who enjoy Mumbai’s infrastructure, Raju is not enamoured of Mumbai and its surroundings, but says working here is necessary. Himu’s father is also a security guard. Kala had four children, two of who migrated to Himachal Pradesh, one in Kalyan, and one who stayed back in their village in Achham district, which is a hilly area. Experts say hilly regions in Nepal are seeing adverse weather conditions, driving people to migrate to India.
A relative of Kamala Bhandari, who died in the train accident, taking her body back to Nepal from Jalgaon. | Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI
Raju says in Thane he gets he gets free lodging and food, which enables him to save some of the ₹15,000 monthly salary. His driver’s gig earns him some more, and his spouse’s work as a housekeeper contributes to the family’s income.
According to the 2022 baseline study, Nepalese migrants worked in hotel/catering businesses (21%), manufacturing (12%), and agriculture (12%). Most were low-skilled and worked as domestic helpers, guards, and drivers. Of those killed and injured in the Jalgaon accident, many are involved in cooking and cleaning, guard duties, and salespeople. Migrants are across castes, and the reason they come to Mumbai is poverty back home and to explore job opportunities here.
Dipendra Parihar, 30, is a cook with a food outlet in Kalyan. He was in the train and is now at the hospital helping his co-passenger and paternal aunt, Manju Parihar, 25. Manju’s husband works and lives with Dipendra. “To get a job in Nepal we have to pay an agent,” says Parihar, whose land in Dullu town, Karnali province, is fragmented. Meanwhile, Manju, who has severely injured her back in the accident is in trauma. She was on her way to visit her husband.
A connected community
Members of the community keep in touch using social media and help each other out. WhatsApp groups thrive, but there is no registered diasporic organisation.
After the news of the Pushpak Express accident went viral, a network of people from the community was activated. A Nepal national residing in Thane district, Shankar Singh received information about the accident at around 6 p.m. on January 22. By 8 p.m. he left for Jalgaon with a team of nine from Kalyan. “I was sure there would be people from Nepal, because 80% Nepalese take this train, as it is fastest,” Singh says.
Singh and the team reached at about 1 a.m. and started inquiring about the victims. The team helped families with formalities related to bodies and interacted with authorities. Singh has a reputation in the Nepali community in the MMR region for helping people.
Relatives and police officials outside the mortuary at Jalgaon Goverment Medical College. | Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI
Through his Facebook, he makes sure people stay connected, and he often helps with informing relatives back in Nepal in case of emergencies. “In last few years, we have helped with at least 16 cases,” he claims.
Singh started as a helper at a vada-pav stall where his brother worked, with a monthly income of ₹800 in 2000, later worked in diamond units, where he fixed diamonds in the jewellery. Today he owns a house and runs an anda bhurji (scrambled eggs) stall. On the second day, 100 to 150 Nepali nationals were in the Government Medical College in Jalgaon, helping the injured and the families of the deceased.
Once documentation had been taken care of and the bodies released to relatives, they began dispersing. By the end of the day 20 to 30 people stayed to ensure that the last body of Nepali nationals reaches home,” says Deepak Buda, 25, who lives in Jalgaon and works as a cook at a Chinese restaurant.
Yam Bhadurt, 48, came from Bhusawal, about 30 km away. He learnt about the accident from the WhatsApp group Nepal Pravasi Sangh. “Jalgaon has 700 to 800 Nepali people. When there’s any incident or accident we get to know via the group and reach out to people and try to help. We treat India as our motherland, but we know it is still a foreign land, and have to take care of each other,” he says. Yam Bahadur belongs to the Chettri ethnicity and has been in Bhusawal for the last 30 years working as a watchman. Of the ₹15,000 he earns every month, he manages to send ₹10,000 back home.
In transit
Nepal and India share a border of 1,850 km. There are five points from where Nepalese people can enter India. Parihar says he travels from Dullu, his hometown in Nepal to Rupaidiha in Uttar Pradesh by bus, a journey that takes about six hours to cover around 180 km. From here, he takes another hour to reach Bahraich in U.P., covering 60 km, and from there another 2 hours to reach Lucknow station. From the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea takes him about 35 hours.
A couple of days after the accident, the Pushpak Express sees no change. Where one berth has the capacity to accommodate three people in a sitting position, there are at least six. They ‘adjust’, their bodies pressing against each other. The general coach has a capacity of 100; there are at least 180, a railway official on board says.
In the coach, people carry bags of belongings and food packed.People clutch at the edges of seats for balance; some sit and sleep on the floor. All the general coaches have thick cotton sheets strung up like hammocks, so people can sit in them. The sink is filled with the orange of gutka spat out; its packets everywhere.
Many know each other, chatting in Nepali. It is on one such train that the rumour of a fire spread, leading people to pull the chain to stop the train, and jump out.
Manisha Bhadur, 36, sits on a berth with five others. “Travelling is difficult, but worth it. We have no other option. Reservations are difficult, as this train is always full,” she says, adding that walking from the berth to the washroom in a coach full of men is a challenge. She feels the government should increase the number of general coaches when they can see trains overfull.
Manisha and her husband, Kamal Bhadur, 48, work in Navi Mumbai, she as a cook, he in a hotel. Together they earn ₹35,000. Kamal works a 12-hour shift. When he goes home he doesn’t get paid. Manisha calls it “majboori (no choice)”. Kamal’s relative Rajesh, 18, is travelling to Mumbai for the first time. He has been in Delhi and Hyderabad, working in hotels there. He hopes he will like Mumbai the way he liked Delhi.
Published - January 26, 2025 10:08 pm IST
