Vijay Mishra, a chhole-poori vendor on Jharsa Road in Gurugram, is the odd man out among a row of fruit sellers. The 38-year-old makes ₹200-₹300 daily, not even half of what he used to earn at his job in Maruti Suzuki India Limited before the lockdown.
Like thousands of workers and labourers in the Millennium City, Mr. Mishra left for his home town in Bihar along with his wife and two kids, aged five and seven, after the lockdown was imposed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Being the breadwinner, I did not have enough savings to stay in the city without work. Besides, there was no certainty over the resumption of production at the company,” he said.
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Little support
“I had left with a promise to myself to not return. I have no landholdings back in my village but was confident of finding some work to make ends meet. I also expected the government to help the migrants returning to Bihar to find jobs. But we got little support from the government except the sanctioned ration against ration cards,” laments Mr. Mishra, while frying
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Seeing hordes of workers returning to cities in search of jobs, Mr. Mishra too decided to come back to Gurugram in July in the hope that he could get back his factory job. But he was in for a rude shock.
“On reaching Gurugram, I found that the company had fixed a deadline for workers to join work. Those who could not make it, lost their jobs,” said Mr. Mishra, who had been a contract worker with the company for eight years.
With no other option left, he decided to become a roadside vendor.
Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union general secretary Kuldeep Janghu said most of the automotive companies were granted permission to resume operations in May. The three original equipment manufacturers in the region – Maruti Suzuki, Honda Motorcycles and Hero Motorcorp — and other automotive companies had asked their employees, both regular and contractual, to return to work by the first week of June.
“Maruti Suzuki extended the deadline till June 23 following a request from the workers’ union. The other companies too extended their deadlines by a few days or weeks. But many workers, mostly those on contract and hailing from far-off places like Bihar, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, could not make it in time and were not taken,” said Mr. Janghu.
He claimed that hundreds of workers who returned to the city in July and August called him up seeking help in getting their jobs back, but he could do little to assist them. “The company had hired workers in their place before they returned,” Mr. Janghu said, adding that the company’s production is on a par with the corresponding period last year.
Babul Haq, an operator at Richa & Co., a garments unit based in Udyog Vihar Phase-III in Gurugram, had a rather pleasant experience. He returned to his home town in May after his mother died, but got a call from the company in August to join work. “The company had hired many new workers during the lockdown, but they are now being replaced by the old workers returning to their jobs. We have also got a raise of ₹500 per month,” said Mr. Haq.
Munender Gautam, a resident of Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh, went back to his village in June. Though not keen to return, he came back after a call from his supervisor. “I did not have any work, so I decided to come back. The company called its old employees and also gave a raise of ₹1,000 per month,” said Mr. Gautam, who works at a textile unit in Panipat. He added that most of the old employees had returned to work.
Biju Rai from Raghopur in Bihar returned to Delhi a fortnight ago but has been unable to find a job or earn two square meals a day. “Work is scarce but I hope things improve,” he said, adding that he had gone back to his village in June when some restrictions were eased. The journey was an ordeal as Mr. Rai was unable to get a train ticket and had to take several buses as well as walk long distances intermittently to reach his home town.
Tough phase
Another migrant worker, Asaram, said he returned to Delhi only some days back. He had left for his home town in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, during the lockdown. Like most migrant workers returning to the city for work, the 24-year-old left his wife and two kids at home. “I share a room with others near Ambedkar College and cook my own food to save money,” he said. The nature of his job has, however, changed. “I am a construction worker but currently doing road maintenance work,” he said.
Brijesh, working with BLU Smart Mobility, an app-based cab company, said he got his job back after the lockdown but suffered a salary cut. A resident of Agra, Brijesh said that salary had been cut substantially but the expenditures remained intact.
“Though it is difficult to survive on the paltry income, I feel lucky to have a job at least. Job loss, salary cuts and dwindling incomes — this is the story all around,” summed up Brijesh.