Fear haunts 9 workers from Hooghly village still stuck in Nepal
The Statesman | 13 September 2025According to their family members, they are now without food and provisions, and even drinking water has become scarce. The only saving grace is that they have been able to communicate with their kin and desperately want to return home. But curfew has been imposed, the international boders have been sealed and, though Siliguri is just about 70 km away, there is no form of transport plying.
Those stuck in Urlabari in a quagmire of uncertainty are either husbands, fathers or sons. The names, as revealed by their relatives in Seora, are Prabhash Karok, Dipendra Duluyi, Hira Lal Singh, Suraji Singh, Bapaditya Singh, Sourabh Singh, Bapi Bag, Sundar Rai and Dibyendu Duluyi. The relatives, who too are distraught seeing the condition their family members are in, said that during a video call yesterday, “We found our boys in a highly-panicked state. They have run out of provisions, they are facing acute shortage drinking water, medicine and more.”
According to them, the labourers’ state of panic stems from what they have witnessed over the past few days. Most business establishments have been set on fire, and the protesters have damaged and ransacked whatever came in their way. In such circumstances, fear has confined these workers within the four walls of their shelter. Curfew has been imposed by the army and there is a total shut down. They are desperately waiting for a way out to return to India. No help has reached them yet.
“We are highly worried about the safety and security of our boys in Nepal. They are starving without food and water, and we here are passing through sleepless nights worrying about them,” they said with tears in their eyes. “We have approached the local administration but they seem helpless.”
The Arambagh SDPO, Suprabhat Chakraborty, has asked for the details of the workers from their families. So has the Arambagh MP Mitali Bagh, who did not know about the plight of the workers till today. “We are in communication with the affected families in Seora village. Steps will be taken by the state and central governments for the safe return of those stuck in Nepal. We are confident that they will be back soon,” she said.
