Delhi: Paid for it or not, he’s on his guard all week

Shradha Chettri | TNN | Apr 27, 2020, 08:51 IST

Pappu Kumar

NEW DELHI: Pappu Kumar did not want to return home to Bihar when the lockdown started on March 25. His entire brood was in his village, but familial concerns were the least of the thoughts in the 45-year-old’s head. Instead, he decided it was time to be counted as one who had served his country at a time of crisis.
Kumar has worked as a security guard in various capacities in the capital. Six months ago, he was posted at the Government Boys’ Senior Secondary School in Ghitorni. After the outbreak of Covid-19 in Delhi, the school became a quarantine centre, and it is this that Kumar secures every day. “Everyone from my state wanted to go back after the announcement of the lockdown. But I wondered if the owner of our security company could even manage to find people to fill the vacancies created. So I decided that if many others were working for society, let me also contribute,” explains Kumar.
As a security guard, Kumar earns Rs 14,400 per month, a part of which goes as rent for his room in south Delhi’s Mehrauli. “I could not support my family on this income, so I sent them back to the village,” says Kumar candidly. He is thankful that he is not endangering the lives of his four children, wife and aged mother. He does not foolishly discount the risks of being part of a quarantine centre and admits, “Darr toh har insaan ko lagta hai (Every human being gets frightened), but it shouldn’t mean we stop working. I also have to earn and look after my family.”
He has few worries about his family being infected, but Kumar himself is equipped to deal with the threat, or so he claims. “We have been provided with face masks, hand sanitisers and plastic gloves. Every two days, we get a new set of masks. Delhi government has been looking after us. The principal and several teachers too are working,” he says, as he sits alert outside the 300-bed quarantine facility.
Sometimes he works through the night, at other times he has daytime duties, but he has to work an eight-hour shift. When the school was running, he got Saturday and Sunday off, but these days he has been working seven days a week. “I do not know if we will be paid for the extra days we are working, but at this point when people are losing jobs, I still have one and I am thankful,” shrugs the security guard.
Kumar is well aware of how important it is to obey the lockdown rules. “Running away from Delhi right now will only cause difficulty for everyone else. Travelling also means putting ourselves at risk of the coronavirus,” he says about migrants wanting to return home.
“In any case, once you are home you will have to stay inside the house. If the government says we should stay at some distance from each other, then as good citizens we should abide by it.”