Kolkata: Households suffer as staffers get locked in

TNN | Updated: Apr 22, 2020, 08:18 IST

Several service staffers come from these slums in Kolkata

KOLKATA: Designation of Shahid Smriti Colony as a containment zone has resulted in a big problem for the service industry catering to the apartments around EM Bypass. Majority of the housekeeping staffers at these posh south Kolkata apartments, who live in this colony, can’t reach their workplace. Facility managers of these societies have requested the others to stay back and have made arrangements for their food, lodging and clothing.
According to Ashok Kumar, the facility manager of Hiland Park, approximately 40% of the apartment’s housekeeping staff has stopped coming. “We have around 60 staffers who clean the common areas. Nearly 25-30 of them live in Shahid Smriti Colony and can’t come to work now,” Kumar said.

So, a decision was taken to request the remaining housekeeping staff members, who live within a radius of 5km, to stay in the complex. “We are providing them with food, mattresses and even clothes. This arrangement is also for our security officials, plumbers and parking attendants. Organizing food for them is costing approximately Rs 1 lakh per week,” he added.
It is not just people in high-rises who are facing difficulties. Recently, Gokhale Road resident Amitabha Roy needed to get his refrigerator repaired. “My mechanic lives in Padmapukur’s containment pocket. Hence, I have to go to the market daily to get my vegetables and fish,” Roy said.
Mala Roy Chowdhury (55) and Meena Das (50) have been working as caregivers for septuagenarian Jharna Sarkar, who is grappling with Alzheimer’s disease and other complex mental health issues. On April 11, a complete lockdown was imposed both in their residential areas as well as the Birati locality where Sarkar stays. Das couldn’t make it and Roy Chowdhury, who had stayed back in March at Sarkar’s flat, is looking after her now 24X7.
However, lives of senior citizens in the 15 other households in Sarkar’s campus have become very difficult. “I am lucky to have a 24X7 caregiver for my mother. Others are stuck. Although we are getting our groceries, vegetables and fish, members of the service industry are locked in their homes,” said Deepanjana. In their campus, there is a sexagenarian lady with arthritis, for whom it is very difficult to cook and do household chores.
Service providers themselves also understand the problems, but their hands are tied. Even a few days ago, Sonu Singh, a resident of Muktaram Babu Street, which is a containment zone now, was supplying milk to households. He is not being able to step out to procure milk from Girish Park and supply it in the neighborhood as “cops have become very strict”.