On a roadside in Chandigarh’s Sector 20-21, a 45-year- old construction worker Amarjeet was dripping in sweat under the searing sun. He manages to get only wages of four days in the past two weeks, yet he keeps plugging in so that he could feed his family. Another 35-year- old daily wager Rahul, a native of Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh was unable to find work for the last four days this week despite knowing several odd jobs.
Along with other daily wagers belonging to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Orissa, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, Rahul was witnessed sitting under trees alongside the road near Sector 20-21 red-light in Chandigarh with the hope of finding work for the day. Till 12 noon on Saturday, none had hired them for work.
Rahul who could not control his emotion said, “We come here from the village to earn and feed our families. There is no work in the market because of the Covid-19 scare. People have postponed their work to avoid social contact. In the last three months, I have only worked for 20 days. I have not got work for the last four days this week. As I have no ration card so have not received ration (food grains) under the Public Distribution System (PDS) from the government. A few days ago, I had thought of going back to my native place but I am struggling to find money even for train and bus tickets.”
Following a sharp decline in the number of Covid-19 cases, the UT Administration has recently announced relaxation for running business activities in the restrictions imposed to check the spread of the virus in the city. Even though daily wage labourers in the city are going through a lot of hardships, as many of them are unable to find work on a daily basis. In the dull market scenario, thousands of daily wagers, most of whom migrant workers have not only been deprived of their daily earnings but also are not able to purchase their essential items.
At many places in the city, a crowd of daily wagers wait and peer at every car or bike passing by with hopeful eyes. Thinking that someone approaches them for work, most of them arrive at 7.30 am and leave by 2 pm, often after finding no work. In the absence of work or savings to support them in the hour of crisis, they are facing hardships in keeping their hearths burning. Gathering on roadsides, daily wagers are not only scrounging to make ends meet but they are also facing problems in purchasing essential food items.
Like Rahul and Amarjeet, many daily wagers are finding work hard to meet their basic needs. Another daily wager Arun of Rajasthan said, “I don’t have any income source to support myself and my family. I am facing a very hard time as there is no work in the market. The demand for workers has gone down because of the ongoing Covid-19 scare. We are furious. We are eating only once a day.”
Sohan Lal, another daily wager said, “The job search forced him to spend five to six hours at red light, Sector 20-21 every day. I am a regular at this place and never faced such difficulties in finding some work before the coronavirus pandemic. The past three months have been very tough.”
Indrajeet of Harpur said, “I was working in a restaurant and making samosa, jalebi before the coronavirus pandemic. Now there is no work in restaurants and hotels. Now, I am ready to do different types of work, including gardening, cleaning and carrying loads for my survival.”
He said that he was recently offered a painting job, but this week he was told to stop coming to work. “When I checked with the managers, they told me that they did not want too many people at the site,” he said.
Suman Singh of Uttarakhand said, “There are so many labourers at the chowks looking for work. There are more workers and less work right now. At least with this money, I can ensure that my children don’t sleep hungry or cut down on any meal,”
On the condition of anonymity, a Chandigarh based educationalist said that the coronavirus pandemic has left most workers in the informal sector unemployed.
The workers should at least be paid an amount that is sufficient to run their households. “Workers cannot be laid off at this time or be forced to work in an unsafe environment. In the dull market scenario, labourers aren’t getting anything to eat. Such people need help from NGOs or the administration,” he added.