No work since 15 days, but labourers support Modi

Daily wage labourers are among the worst-hit by the cash crunch as contractors, home-owners and builders just don’t have the money to pay them. Despite being out of work for about two weeks, many of them are willing to put up with the trouble as long as the government reins in black money.

Unwanted rest

At a crowded intersection near Chawri Bazaar, where daily wagers gather to get hired for painting, construction, carpentry and masonry jobs, there are people sleeping on Thursday afternoon. Some others are sitting around, the tools of their trade resting beside them.

Hauz Qazi Chowk is still busy, but that is not the case with the labourers who gather there.

Gulfam, a painter who has worked out of the intersection for 25 years, said he hadn’t got any jobs since the “ notebandi ”.

On Thursday morning, someone finally hired him.

“It was just a Rs.150 job to paint the mesh around a bird enclosure. I have been sitting without work for 15 days and struggling to find food,” he said.

But he was quick to add that he still supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision.

“Even if I have to sit without work for 15 years, I will. The Prime Minister has done the right thing. The people sitting in their mansions have been stealing for years, they cheat on taxes and hide black money. They have to be brought to justice, even if that means that we have no work,” said Gulfam, who is originally from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh and now lives in Najafgarh in Delhi.

Another painter at the chowk, Narendra Kauri, said he has had no work since the demonetisation was announced. But, he too said the government had done a “good thing”.

“I support Mr. Modi. If our country’s financial condition can improve, we can deal with lack of work,” he said.