Workers flee the capital on one-way tickets

At the crowded Anand Vihar railway station, Sonu Kumar Rawat and his family have found a quiet spot. Around them, commuters, hawkers and trains come and go. The 27-year-old is keenly watching over his belongings. Sitara Khatoon, his wife, is holding their infant. But it’s just past 2 p.m. and they have to wait another four hours on the crowded platform in the stifling heat before they can board the Lichchavi Express which will take them home to Bihar.

Sonu is a mason; Sitara works on construction sites. Both line up at labour mandis in Ghaziabad to find work every morning. In recent weeks, Sonu says, “we spent the whole day at the labour chowk. For two or three days, we found no work at all.”

Since LPG prices have soared across the country – an impact of the United States of America and Israel's war on Iran and the subsequent blockade of the strait of Hormuz – living in Delhi has become economically impossible for the Rawat family.

“Earlier, we spent 1,200 rupees on a gas cylinder, 2,500 on rent, 500 on electricity. That’s already 4,000 to 5,000 rupees of the month’s expenses, before we’ve eaten,” Sonu says. Unable to pay for basic necessities, they have no option but to return home to their villages.

But their return is tinged with a large degree of nervousness – the inter-faith couple had run away from home to get married. They arrived in the capital city less than a year ago, looking for anonymity and work. Now, they have to return. They will try Sitara's home in Mairwa of Siwan district, hoping for a milder reception.

In Delhi, the family lives in a single room in a slum in Kanawani village extension. “We find work for maybe 20 days in a month,” Sonu continues. “In a good month, we have made 10,000 [rupees] each,” he sighs as he goes on to explain how the LPG crisis has unravelled his careful home economics.

Today, LPG in the black-market costs Rs. 300 to 400 a kilo, three or four times the normal price. Every kilo lasts them two to three days at best. Their landlord forbids wood-fired chulhas or induction stoves in the room, leaving them entirely dependent on LPG from a black market that they can no longer reliably find or afford.

Rawat plans to return to Delhi alone. But when? “I don't know,” he says, shaking his head.

At the same station, Mohammad Siraj is waiting for the 2:30 p.m Saptakranti Express to Motihari. The 30-year-old is heading back to Maripur Milik village in Bihar with his wife Momina Khatun and their three daughters. One of the girls is running a high fever and vomiting. The parents take turns to cradle her.

Siraj works at construction sites in Bahadurgarh, Haryana as a daily wage labourer. He has seen the city through drought, slowdown and a pandemic. He has not seen this.

“Ever since the LPG cylinders became unavailable, we are facing so many problems,” he says. “I make at best 400 [rupees] a day. One kilogram of gas in the black market is also 400 [rupees]. What is left for us to eat?”

Siraj and his family, who live in the Bajghera labour camp in Gurugram, Haryana, had been using a chulha to get by, but the landlord began complaining. Even firewood, Siraj says, now costs Rs. 10 a kilogram, up from 4 rupees.

Momina is also concerned. “Bachhe ko roz doodh garam karke pilana parhta hai, itna gas istemal hota hai…[We have to give the baby warm milk every day. It uses up so much gas…],” she says.

The black market price, Siraj notes, is maddeningly unpredictable. “For a while it was 600 rupees a kilo, now it’s come down to 350 rupees. Sometimes it goes up, sometimes it comes down.”

Siraj says he intends to return to Delhi in about 15 days. But the Delhi he is leaving is not the one he arrived in 16 years ago. “I’ve been living and working in Delhi since 2010, I have never faced a gas crisis like this,” he says, getting ready to board the train.