Workers reside on campus as transport facility suspended

TIRUCHI

Some of the city-based factories and manufacturing units have made arrangements for workers to stay on campus as public transport remains suspended. Arranging for the workers’ stay is cheaper than arranging for transport facilities each day, many owners said.

R. Manikandan, who owns Shakthi Electricals, a transformer manufacturing company at the Ariyamangalam SIDCO Industrial Estate, said that of 26 employees, seven of them, including a supervisor stays at the factory. The remaining workers are stranded because of the lockdown, he said.

A shed was constructed and all facilities for the workers’ were provided. “Majority of our electrical transformers are supplied to the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, and when they required supplies, we had to come to work with a bare minimum number of employees,” Mr. Manikandan said.

Abbas Mahathir, a supervisor at Mr. Manikandan’s factory has been staying at the facility since June. “For about two weeks in June, we travelled to and fro from home, but soon, the transport services were suspended,” Mr. Mahathir, who resides in Keeranur, Pudukottai district said.

Food is being served for the workers by a woman, hired by the company, to cook for them. “Since our job does not have any high-risk factors, our families are not too worried,” Mr. Mahathir said. “When the first bus leaves, I will go home to visit my parents, but until then, I must make do with phone calls,” he added.

An employee working at a steel manufacturing unit in Tiruverumbur has eight others working and staying with him. “My family resides less than an hour away, on the Tiruchi- Thanjavur border, but I am unable to travel to meet them. Work needs to be done, even though I miss them,” he said, adding that he was grateful to be able to provide for my family at this unprecedented time.