Guest workers from Chhattisgarh pool Rs 52k for CMDRF

Anasooya.S | TNN | May 1, 2020, 04:52 IST

Thiruvananthapuram: For 43 guest workers from Chhattisgarh who work in the capital, the state has helped them earn enough to considerably improve the financial position of their families. So, when they came to know about the drive of the state government to collect funds to help people who are struggling because of the Covid-19 crisis, they decided to do their bit.
These guest labourers work as coconut pluckers at the firm CompuTech near Ayiroorpara. They contributed an amount of Rs 52,000 from their savings to CMDRF. The cheque was handed over to minister for cooperation Kadakampally Surendran recently.
“My friends have been working here long before I joined them. I never felt alienated in this place. I received training in climbing coconut trees. We all earn a steady income and can send savings to our families in Chhattisgarh. When the owner of the firm informed us that people here are contributing to CMDRF, we decided to do our bit,” said Chandrapal Singh, one among the 43-member team.
“Lockdown affected our earnings for 10 to 15 days. My ticket reservation got cancelled due to lockdown and I was not able to go home. But by mid-April, we all were back to work and we saved an amount from the earnings for CMDRF. We contributed around Rs 1,000 each for the fund,” added Chandrapal. He came to Thiruvananthapuram in September 2019 and received training in coconut tree climbing.
Mohandas P, owner of CompuTech, said that it was during the weekly meeting that he informed the guest workers about the ongoing collection drive for CMDRF and they all readily agreed to contribute an amount.
“I am an ex-serviceman and I gave my one-month pension to CMDRF. The lockdown affected our work for 10 to 15 days. Later, when the rules were relaxed for agriculture activities people started calling us for work. The guest workers saved the amount from their wages for the distress relief fund,” said Mohandas.