Rajkumar Bhangre has never been so distressed. A resident of Bhongir, he had spinal injury in an accident which has rendered him partially immobile. His wife suffered fractures in her leg, leaving her disabled for life.
They are dependent on their two teen-aged boys who worked as helpers in hotels to run the household. Now both of them lost their livelihood owing to lockdown, which has pushed the family into destitution.
Despite their condition, they could not benefit from any of the reliefs announced by either the Central or the State government for the below poverty line population owing to their nationality.
Rajkumar and his wife are immigrants from Nepal who arrived in Telangana about 12 years ago in search of livelihood. They moved from town to town before finally finding a home in Bhongir.
“We begged our neighbours, and got 5 kilograms of rice. Recently, there was a rumour that the police were distributing rations, hearing which my children ran there. But the police beat them up for violating lockdown,” Rajkumar rued.
He is not alone in his predicament though. Bhongir alone has around 150 Nepali immigrants who have lost livelihood, yet unable to get any help owing to their nationality, says Human Rights Forum (HRF), which has addressed a letter to Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar about this.
Attempts by HRF to reach out to the community with rations have failed.
“Our nearest volunteers are about 30 to 40 kilometers away, and could not reach the location despite the best of the efforts due to stringent lockdown restrictions,” Syed Bilal, a volunteer from Hyderabad informed.
Hyderabad too is home to about 1,000 Nepali immigrants, employed in odd jobs as drivers, cooks at fast food joints, helpers in hotels, security guards, and others. Several women work as domestic help.
Residing in areas such as Banjara Hills, AC Guards, First Lancer, Mallepally, Shantinagar, Vijay Nagar Colony, Secunderabad, Rasoolpura, Begumpet, Minister Road, East Marredpally, Parsigutta, Hitech City, Gachibowli, Kukatpally and Lingampally, none of them have received any help from the government. Most of them have stayed here for a minimum of 10 years, and rarely ever returned to Nepal.
“I came here after marriage 18 years ago. My mother and brother too stay here, so I have never really felt the need to go back. But the lockdown is pretty hard on us now,” says Radha Bishwakarma, who ekes out her living as domestic help after her husband’s death.
She is not getting paid for the lockdown period, and has three children to look after.
Anita, who is resident of Malakpet says her father who is a driver and mother, a housekeeper, are not getting salaries during the lockdown.
“We got ration a few times through charity, but they did not last for many days. There are hundreds of Nepalis like us who have no wherewithal to survive the lockdown,” she says.
