Despite the directions from the state government, migrant labourers can be seen walking on the roads to reach their destinations.Avinas
Shambu Prasad, a 22-year-old migrant worker from Bihar, lost his job on the very first day when the Gujarat government announced a three-day lockdown on April 22 in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak. With just Rs. 50 in his pocket and a few kilograms of wheat flour, Prasad, who shares a cramped room with his fellow workers, is struggling to find food.
“We are hungry. The last meal we ate was on Friday afternoon when some officials from a nearby manufacturing unit gave us four pooris and some sabji,” said Prasad who is a native of Siwan and came to Ahmedabad with three of his colleagues from Chhapra in Bihar.
“We had come looking for jobs in February. But now we feel, the struggle in Bihar was better. At least we used to have full meals,” said the youngster who is one of the several migrant labourers who live in Rabari colony in Santej which has a number of MSME units.
“We were working with Patels Airtemp (India) Limited (an Ahmedabad-based company manufacturing parts for air conditioners) which closed down on April 22. We have been unemployed since then. With no money and food, we now desperately want to return home if some arrangements can be made,” Prasad said.
He said that he was employed through a contractor who has not paid him the wages for the current month. While Prasad worked as a fitter and earned Rs. 10,000 per month, his three room mates were helpers in the same firm.
“The wheat flour will run out in a day or two. The ration shop in the village is shut. There is neither money nor a place where we can find food. In the current situation even neighbours are refusing help. We are unable to go far in search of food items and essentials because of the lockdown,” said Vikas Kumar. The 10×10 ft room they share also doubles up as a kitchen. A ceiling fan, two rusted tins for wheat and rice (now empty), a bottle of oil, a 5 kg LPG cylinder-cum-stove are the only other appliances in their rented accommodation near a water tank in the village.
The Gujarat government on Friday ordered migrant workers not to walk back home/villages and stay put in their respective cities and towns. The government further said that it has directed district collectors to make arrangements for food. On Saturday, the government said there were an estimated 10,000 migrant workers who were walking on highways trying to get to their homes in villages.
“We tried to call 1077, but we did not get any help. They just gave us another number which is not working,” said Prasad. The government had on Friday announced that migrant labourers in need of food and shelter should call up 1077 for assistance.
When The Indian Express told the district authorities about the condition of these migrant labourers, they offered help. “We will be sending them some food packets,” said Bharat Patel, the in-charge SDM for Sanand.
Some of the other migrant labourers living in Rabari Colony said that they were daily wage earners.
Despite the directions from the state government, migrant labourers were seen walking on the roads to reach their destinations. A group of four labourers hailing from Madhya Pradesh on Saturday said they had walked about 30 kilometres all the way from the Changodar industrial estate located outside Ahmedabad. “We lost our jobs as painters in a manufacturing unit which shut down during the lockdown. Now we neither have work, food nor money, so we are going to Chandkheda where some of our friends from Gwalior live. Once we reach there, we will plan on how to get back to Madhya Pradesh,” said Bhanu Pratap, a resident of Gwalior.
Pathik Patwari, a member of Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) who also manages a manufacturing firm Nexus Infratech Pvt Ltd in Naroda GIDC, said that 50 per cent of his migrant labour force of 150 who were on contract left after the lockdown was announced in Gujarat.
“There was a chain reaction when the migration of labourers started after the lockdown was announced. Fifty per cent of our contractual workforce left after their contractor told them that they will not be paid. This was done despite us paying the contractor,” he said.
“We are caring for the remaining migrant workers most of who are from Jharkhand. We have allowed them to stay in our factory’s campus in Naroda and we are also providing them food. We anticipate that the lockdown will last till end of April and it will be difficult to source these workers once we begin functioning in May,” Patwari said adding that the migrant force who stayed back was also paid a “kharchi” which is an advance payment made on 21st of every month.
“Sixty to seventy per cent of the firms are retaining the migrant workforce,” he said that the even the Naroda industrial association was providing ration kits to migrant workforce with an aim to retain them.
Courtesy Indian Express