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Is lockdown 2.0 locking the future of migrant labourers?
Thousands of migrant workers and daily wage labourers stranded away from their homes and families in cities like Delhi amid lockdown are spending their time sleeping in parks and lining up for food at relief camps and government schools.
New Delhi: Thousands of migrant workers and daily wage labourers stranded away from their homes and families in cities like Delhi amid lockdown are spending their time sleeping in parks and lining up for food at relief camps and government schools.
These workers, who came to the national capital in search of jobs and livelihood, are now staring down an uncertain future. With activities except for essential services halted, these workers are left with no jobs. They are desperately looking to get back home.
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Devdas, a resident of Chhattisgarh, said that he works in Delhi as a painter.
"However, it has been hard to find a job ever since the lockdown was imposed. I get food at relief camps and schools and sleep in parks. Now, even the police are understanding our problems. But I want to go home where I can stay with my family. With no money and no job, what am I going to do here?" Devdas said.
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This comes as the lockdown, which was earlier scheduled to end on April 14, was recently extended till May 3 in a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Another daily wager Chunnu, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur, said that he wants to go back to his hometown to stay with his family. "If there is no work here either, why should I stay here and not go home? At least I will be able to spend time with my family there," he said.
Migrant workers Mukesh and Sandeep from West Bengal and Jharkhand respectively, are afraid of being caught by the police for lockdown violation. "We spend our time roaming around in the parks as we have nowhere else to go. But if we are caught, we won't be able to go home."
The migrant labourers and daily wage workers send a part of what they earn in the cities back to their families in villages for their expenses and survival.
Notably, thousands of daily wage workers in different cities across the country have tried to head back to their hometowns after the lockdown was imposed. Migrant workers in very large numbers from different parts of Delhi had also reached Anand Vihar bus terminal on March 28 to board buses to their native places amid the lockdown. (ANI)