HYDERABAD: It wasn’t a 1,500-km walk to Gorakhpur, in Uttar Pradesh, that Surya and his friend had undertaken, when TOI caught up with them in Banjara Hills on a hot weekday afternoon.
But the purpose of their six-hour-long journey on foot, from Manikonda to Suchitra Junction, was much the same as those crossing borders: to find comfort in the company of their own people.
The group of young men are painters who, like thousands of others, travelled to Hyderabad in hope of employment.
But since the last few weeks, they not only have no work but also do not have any food. Their employer, they say, has washed his hands off them.
“When we came to the city from UP, we rented a place in Suchitra Junction. But our contractor offered us work and took us to Manikonda. Since the lockdown, we’ve been staying at the site without any basic essential. Even getting water and food is a struggle,” said the 20-something Surya, eager to cut short the conversation – he and his seven friends still had more than 16 km to cover.
“It’s already been three-four hours since we started walking...We have some people from our village, living in Suchitra. If we are together, we can make some arrangement, since going back to UP isn’t a possibility,” said another from the group, as he kept walking, with a paint can in hand.
The fatigue from walking from west to north, under the scorching heat, had started to show on them.
Not too far away from Manikonda, at the ISB circle, TOI also met Lakshmi, sitting alone amid a bunch of makeshift homes.
The hotel where she washes dishes has shut and left her with no food or money.
“There are about 20 families from neighbouring districts that live here. All of them left before the lockdown because they could arrange transport. My family and I had to stay back because we couldn’t,” said the 37-year-old from Zaheerabad. The family lives off food distributed by NGOs and hopes to get some work soon.
But the purpose of their six-hour-long journey on foot, from Manikonda to Suchitra Junction, was much the same as those crossing borders: to find comfort in the company of their own people.
The group of young men are painters who, like thousands of others, travelled to Hyderabad in hope of employment.
But since the last few weeks, they not only have no work but also do not have any food. Their employer, they say, has washed his hands off them.
“When we came to the city from UP, we rented a place in Suchitra Junction. But our contractor offered us work and took us to Manikonda. Since the lockdown, we’ve been staying at the site without any basic essential. Even getting water and food is a struggle,” said the 20-something Surya, eager to cut short the conversation – he and his seven friends still had more than 16 km to cover.
“It’s already been three-four hours since we started walking...We have some people from our village, living in Suchitra. If we are together, we can make some arrangement, since going back to UP isn’t a possibility,” said another from the group, as he kept walking, with a paint can in hand.
The fatigue from walking from west to north, under the scorching heat, had started to show on them.
Not too far away from Manikonda, at the ISB circle, TOI also met Lakshmi, sitting alone amid a bunch of makeshift homes.
The hotel where she washes dishes has shut and left her with no food or money.
“There are about 20 families from neighbouring districts that live here. All of them left before the lockdown because they could arrange transport. My family and I had to stay back because we couldn’t,” said the 37-year-old from Zaheerabad. The family lives off food distributed by NGOs and hopes to get some work soon.
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