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Migrant workers forced to leave Gujarat’s Surat city because of the fuel crisis brought about by the United States-Iran War in West Asia have told Down To Earth (DTE) that they were left to their own means and had to leave the city for their very survival.
Migrant workers have been arriving in towns and cities across Bihar in the past few days. Like Ramesh Kumar, in his late 30s, who arrived with his family at Danapur railway station in Patna from Surat by an express train on April 23, 2026.
“We have been forced to leave Surat and return to our native places to survive. There was an acute shortage of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders. Cooking food without LPG is a big issue. It was not possible to buy LPG on the black market at a much higher rate. How long could we have struggled to eat readymade foods or foods from hotels?” said Kumar.
Another migrant worker, Aslam Ansari, who travelled along with Kumar from Surat to Patna, said he were offered virtually no help by his employers.
“No one care to know whether we ate or not, whether our families—mainly children—got proper food to eat. It was difficult time for us. Left with no option, we are back here,” said Ansari.
Vandana Devi, wife of another migrant worker Satish Kushwaha, had been waiting near a newly constructed platform at Danapur railway station, having alighted from a train half an hour ago. She was hiring an auto rickshaw to reach her native village in Vaishali district, about 35 km from Patna.
“We were left alone without any help. We struggled not for days but weeks without LPG. My husband’s monthly income is Rs 10,000 to 12000. How can we purchase an LPG cylinder of Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 in black to cook food? Initially, we managed when 1 kg of LPG cost Rs 200 to Rs 250 in February 2026. But then, its rate doubled to Rs 500 to 600 per kg. Now it is being sold in black. If we cannot eat because we cannot cook, what is the use of working hard hundreds of kilometres from our native villages and towns? We decided to return back,” said Devi, mother of two minor daughters.
Her husband Satish, who worked in a textile factory, said migrant workers have been leaving Surat out of compulsion to survive. “We have returned to Bihar not by choice. It is difficult to get work here because there are no factories. We will either return to Surat after the LPG crisis is over or will go to other states to earn our livelihood. It is in our fate to migrate.”
He said neither the Gujarat government nor owners of private factories which are mainly run by migrant workers, ensured provision of LPG. “It was a total failure.”
Ramesh, Vandana, Satish and Aslam made it clear that staying in Surat had become a matter of survival due to lack of LPG cylinders. They were helpless and could not arrange LPG and were struggling to survive by drinking only water or whatever food they could manage with help from fellow migrant workers.
Early this week a video clip of migrant workers ready to leave Surat went viral on social media. Surat is an industrial hub of Gujarat, known for its textile, diamond and other factories. It is a much sought-after destination for migrant workers to earn their livelihood since decades.
Several migrant workers, who returned from Surat, also highlighted something else: Shortage of gas used to run industrial units also affected work hours in different factories. They claimed that many migrant workers were told to sit at home or asked to come on alternate days.
Durgesh Yadav, a porter at Danapur railway station, said it is not only from Surat. Migrant workers have been arriving in trains daily from other big cities and industrial hubs in southern and northern India as well. “Most long-distance trains are arriving overcrowded with returning migrant workers. This state-of-affairs will continue in the coming days in view of the LPG crisis.”
Yadav’s view was echoed by a fruit vendor at Danapur railway station. “Migrant workers are arriving in their hundreds daily from places like Bengaluru and Maharashtra,” said Shankar Yadav.
It is an untimely and unexpected return for thousands of migrant workers across Bihar during the scorching summer. Migrants usually return to their native places either ahead of major festivals like Chhath and Holi or the traditional marriage season, locally known as lagan.
It is more or less a repeat of what had happened six years ago when a sudden nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19 caused thousands of migrant workers to return to Bihar. Most of them struggled to return on their own.
Several Bihari migrant workers, employed in factories in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala, Punjab, Delhi and Haryana had then claimed they did not receive any help from any state government or their own employers to return home.
In several instances, the workers claimed they did not receive their salaries for the month of April and were forced to return home because they faced long-term unemployment.