NEW DELHI/ SHILLONG: A migrant worker from Shillong, who was employed at a restaurant in Agra, allegedly committed suicide on Monday night after he was denied his salary during the ongoing lockdown in the country.
The chief secretary MS Rao took up the matter with his UP counterpart to investigate into the matter as the owner of the restaurant, Seema Chaudhary, had terminated his job which is a violation of the Centre’s order in view of coronavirus.
As per reports, police officials found that he had hanged himself at his rented house in the city. The man, identified as Aldrin Lyngdoh, in a Facebook post, had accused his employer of not supporting him during the 21-day nationwide lockdown period that has been imposed by the Centre in an attempt to control the spread of coronavirus.
Police initially found it difficult to trace the relatives of the deceased as both his parents were no more.
Later, police traced the foster parents at Happy Valley.
His foster parents, Quintina Lyngdoh and Joy Singh said they are unable to conduct his funeral. Moreover, they have not been in contact with Aldrin alias Dev Lyngdoh Mawphlang for the last 10 years.
According to an official from Meghalaya House, New Delhi, the funeral will be held in Delhi supported by Meghalaya House though the last wish of the deceased was to take his body to Shillong for burial.
The postmortem of the body will be held on Wednesday.
Confirming the death of the worker from Shillong, Home Minister Lahkmen Rymbui has expressed sorrow that the youth passed away under such circumstances.
Before he committed suicide, in the Facebook post addressed to police official Robin Hibu, who is looking after the welfare of the people of North East in New Delhi, he had requested him to bail him out of the misery he was faced with due to the lockdown and the alleged disregard of his plea by his employer at Sikandra Kargil Shanti Food Court Restaurant in Agra.
He had also stated that he saw suicide as the only way out and called on humanity to take his remains back home.
When asked, the home minister said that there is no other way to transport the body as inter-district and inter-state movements have already been banned and the flights are grounded.
He said the state has to follow the directions of the Centre and there is no other option.
Rymbui said UP police and the government there have been asked to register a case.
He said if circumstances of the death warranted payment of ex gratia, the state government would look into it.
Advocate Daniel Lyngdoh, who is coordinating with the North East students in Delhi, said Aldrin had stayed in Agra for not less than a year.
“Before committing suicide, Aldrin had sought help from Robin Hibu through Facebook but he came to know about it late.
Daniel said Hibu had talked to a senior police official in Agra who had said that initially, the identity of the deceased was not ascertained as he was known as both Alwin and Thapa.
Concerned over the plight of migrant workers, the home ministry has recently written to the states/UTs to take measures to create relief shelters with all basic amenities and mitigate economic hardships. This has been done to prevent movement of a large number of migrant workers to their domicile states, so as to prevent the spread of COVID-19. It has also instructed state/UT governments to ensure adequate arrangements of temporary shelters, and provision of food for the poor and needy people, including migrant labourers, stranded due to lockdown measures in their respective areas.
