Sreenu is a migrant worker and ekes a living by ironing clothes in an apartment complex. His day used to start at 8 a.m. when he and his wife would collect clothes from apartments and press them and return home by 9 p.m. with their daily earnings.
The couple has two school going children and life was going by with income that helped them make two ends meet. But their hardships began with the lockdown and the community banned outsiders from coming into the complex, including domestic help, as part of strict adherence to 'stay home, stay safe' norm.
With their daily earnings gone, Srinu banked on the State government's assurance to get 12 kg of rice and ₹500 to every member of the family. “The ration shop dealer refused to give us rice as we don't have a ration card,” said Sreenu.
There are 100 such migrant workers and their families in Khajaguda area. Repeat visits to the fair price shop did not help so far even as the 21-day lockdown is coming to an end. Srinu has the apartment complex residents coming to his aid with some monetary help but he is a worried man now with the lockdown likely to be extended and not sure of fending for himself and his family in the coming days.
The situation of migrant workers eking a living through various means is no different from that of Srinu and much worse for some with no support from any quarters.
‘Implement GOs’
A group of civil society organisations under COVID-19 Advocacy Lockdown Collective, which has been working at the field-level with affected people since the lockdown - in coordination with government officials, has represented to the government to ensure full implementation of GO 13 to migrants, GO 45 benefits to ration card holders and extension of those benefits to non-ration card holders to prevent imminent hunger.
In a letter to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, the civil society organisations welcomed the government initiative in bringing the GOs but highlighted the issues in their implementation.
They pointed out that contrary to GO 13, many migrant workers did not get 12 kg rice/atta and ₹500 and some cases, only grain is given and some did not get full ration of 12 kg rice.
‘Revise estimate’
They also said that the estimate of 3.26 lakh migrant workers be revised immediately. The registered Building and construction workers in Telangana are about 8.5 lakh and many of whom are from other States in addition to unregistered workers. Large number of workers in factories, shops and establishments are also pleading with civil society groups for help in getting rations.
The government expected the owners of factories, brick and kiln units, construction sites etc to provide rations and wages to the migrant workers but it was not complied with by many owners, they said.
‘Empower tahsildars’
They urged the government not to depend on owners of factories and other units to provide rations and entrust the responsibility to tahsildars to directly deliver the rations and ₹ 500 per head. The tahsildars must visit work sites and ensure sufficient food grains.
Another issue was many poor in the State are without ration cards as their applications are pending. They too must be given 12 kg of rice and ₹ 1,500 monetary support. Many ration card holders too have not received the monetary support of ₹1,500. The delay of about 20 days since the lockdown in releasing the amount only means greater hardships to the poor. The amount should be released at the earliest, the civil society representatives said.
The Collective of Civil Society organisations’ representatives Ravi Kanneganti, Kondal, S. Jeevan Kumar, Kiran Kumar Vissa, Meera Sanghamitra, Kondaveeti Satyavathi and others also urged the government to give dal, oil and sugar as part of rations and ensure the poor have cooking fuel.
