Labourers make Margao municipal garden and other locations as their home
ROQUE DIAS | NT
Margao: The homeless and jobless migrant labourers are in a hopeless situation, and have made the Margao municipal garden and other locations of the city as their home.
The coronavirus pandemic has thrown the realty sector out of gear, rendering the labourers jobless. Most of these labourers are migrants and have mostly lived in rented rooms and other accommodations.
As joblessness is not enough, a lot of these labourers have been evicted from their rented accommodations by landlords, who feared that the jobless migrant workers would not be able to pay the rent.
The homeless and jobless migrants are thus forced to spend their time at the city municipal garden waiting for a better tomorrow.
“I have been coming to Margao early in the morning hoping to get work. Business activities are going on here and there, but nobody gives us work. There is neither foodgrains nor a place to stay in for me. Living the life has become a hard bargain for me,” a migrant labourer said. Benches around the garden are occupied by these workers from outside Goa: some of the luckless people spend their time at the garden without wearing face mask.
The only consoling factor, some of the labourers said, is that a good Samaritan gets them food.
These migrant workers are also joined by beggars, pickpockets and others.
The municipal garden is not the only location in Margao where these migrants are seen. They are spotted at bus stands and along the railway station road.
A migrant recalled that the government had taken care of them during the first wave of the pandemic.
“We were housed at the Manohar Parrikar indoor stadium and provided with food. This time the situation is very bad. People fear to come near us,’’ he said.
People look upon the labourers as COVID spreaders, forcing police to drive them away from the garden and other places.
“People using footpaths complain to us against the vagabonds. So we have to take action,’’ said a police official.