Tamil Nadu   

‘Work is hard to come by these days’

PHOTO: M. GOVARTHAN

Hard times: D.Kumar, Construction Supervisor. —

For construction supervisor D. Kumar the Rs. 4,500 he earns has not helped him cope with price rise.

To meet the challenges, Kumar makes a weekly trip to the wholesale market to purchase groceries and other household items.

“The visit to the wholesale market saves me Rs. 200 a week,” says the 24-year-old, who spends around Rs. 800 for the purpose.

And, these are hard times for Mr. Kumar as work is hard to come by.

“Given the rise in prices of cement, steel and other construction materials, people have either postponed or stopped construction,” he explains.

In the past two months, he has had very little work from the three buildings he was working on.

Mr. Kumar says the absence of income has forced him to borrow from friends and neighbours.

That he is the only earning of a family of four has only added to his problems.

And, he cannot reduce consumption either, as it is already at a minimum and cannot further go down, he says.

Neither vegetables nor milk consumption can go down because I have to take care of a baby and wife.

His child is a little more than one year old.

The burden of price rise and erratic work, has forced the family to cut down on the weekly movie going experience and also postpone plans to buy jewellery.

His only hope, Mr. Kumar says, is reduction in prices of construction materials to enable him resume work in full swing.

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