Neerudi Sunitha and Neerudi Kruparani hail from a village near Markapuram in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh. While Kruparani has a six-month-old baby, Sunitha has a one-and-half-year-old boy. Both the infants are malnourished.
Their families migrated here to Kishtareddypet village in Ameenpur mandal to work in the construction of a building about two months ago. A few weeks after their arrival lockdown was announced and they are unable to earn even a penny.
“My child needs milk powder as I cannot feed him sufficiently. As there is no work we are not in a position to buy it. The government officials have not come here so far. We do not know what to do,” Kruparani told The Hindu . She dreads the extension of lockdown and wonders when their lives would become normal.
No food
Aubothorao and Gulab Hussain, who have migrated from Jalpaiguri in West Bengal, had no food on Friday as the rations got over.
Dasharath, a watchman and their neighbour, extended them ₹ 500 to buy rice and pulses.
The case of Dhiraj Kumar Prasad and Aman Kumar is not much different. They migrated from Bihar and are staying here at IDA Bollaram, a few hundred metres away from the police station. They claimed that more than 300 people from Bihar, Odisha, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have been residing here in four buildings.
“Since the lockdown, no government official has visited here and we do not know the reason. Though it was stated that migrants from other States without ration cards would also be extended assistance, it has not reached us so far. Those having ration cards are being sent away by authorities from Bollaram to Bachupally and vice versa,” said Dhiraj Kumar.
What about their families back home? “Too pathetic. We have to earn money and send them. Without that survival is a problem for them. Now we are in a completely helpless condition,” said another elderly person from the group who gathered there.
