Forced to pay the rents and settle pending grocery bills for March, over a thousand daily wagers, inhabiting a large cluster on the outskirts of Kasan village in Manesar’s Industrial Model Township, are now at the mercy of social organisations for their daily meals till the lockdown lasts.
Though none of them were paid for the 10 days of lockdown in March, many were not even paid for the extra hours they put in.
Migrant couple, Vijay and Neelu, who were not paid even for a single day of work, had the most poignant tale to tell. The couple has been frantically calling the contractor, but his mobile is switched off. The woman worked for 19 days in two different garments company put together. Her husband worked for 12 days and put in four hours of extra work daily. Not paid, the couple is now penniless. “It has been around a month since we are having rice in a langar twice a day. The children insist for rotis and milk. But we cannot afford,” said Neelu.
Their neighbour Shiv, also a daily wager, said he too worked for 12 days in March, but did not get the payment. Another worker, Ashok Mandal, said he was paid only half of the total wages.
Seema, 40, said it took them three hours every time to go and fetch food from a temple. “It is a long queue. We need to wait for more than an hour for our turn. And the food is not enough for the family of five,” she rued.
Having paid her rent, grocery bills and mother’s medical bills, she said she was left with just ₹450 for an “emergency”. Many said they did not have even that much.
Landlords turn ‘deaf’
The workers claimed they pleaded with the landlords to not ask for rent, but their prayers fell on deaf ears. The neighbourhood grocery store owner, too, has stopped offering ration on credit, adding to their woes.
Rakesh, a worker, said they could not even return to their hometown without any transport. Priyanka, a worker, said it was not possible to walk hundreds of kilometres with children and temperatures rising. An area ASHA worker said the locals would beat up workers and took away their mobiles to extort rent.
Maruti workers
Meanwhile, a message was also doing rounds on social media on Wednesday calling upon the Maruti workers to gather outside the company’s guest house in the evening with a demand to transport them back to their homes and start marching on foot in case no help was coming. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Manesar, Deepak Saharan, said the matter is under investigation. He said that all landlords in the area were told not to press for rent for March.