Out of work since the nationwide lockdown to combat COVID-19 was announced and with no means of travelling back to their villages, hundreds of migrant workers living on the Yamuna floodplain near Kashmere Gate said that for over a week now, they had been surviving on one meal a day.
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With the mercury touching 40 degrees on Wednesday, the workers sat in groups, some huddling beneath trees while others were beneath a flyover over the river. “Social distancing”, as advised by authorities, was a concept “beyond imagination” for them, the workers said.
‘No soap’
Mohammad Shadab, a native of Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh said, “We have been here since the lockdown was announced. We get food once a day and that too from the nearby gurudwara. Authorities are saying maintain distance and wash hands regularly. How do they expect us to do that? We do not even have soaps here and cannot even take a proper bath. What hygiene will we be able to maintain?”
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Following media reports on the issue, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, on Wednesday evening, in a tweet claimed that arrangements had been made for the workers and that orders to shift them out immediately, had been passed.
“There is no shortage of food or shelter facilities. If anyone is hungry or homeless, then do let us know,” the tweet added.
‘Thrashed by police’
Approximately 4 km away from the CM’s residence, hidden behind rows of greenery, the labourers waiting on the floodplains, however, complained that they were often “thrashed” by police personnel and made to shift from one location to another.
Mangal, 45, a native of Jharkhand said, “The cops keep thrashing us and ask us to move from one place to another. Earlier, we had been pushed to the corner of the banks. In two weeks, we moved bit by bit and have reached this particular spot. Sometimes, they take us in buses and then drop us back here hungry as the shelters have also run out of space. Things worsened since the scuffle that took place at Kashmere Gate last Saturday .”
Shunted around
Narendra Pandya, who used to earlier work in a hardware shop in Lal Quan added, “For the last several days, we have been simply sitting here and idling away our time. All that we get is food once a day. The cops do not let anything function over here and even stopped the delivery of food. We are constantly asked to move from one place to another but not given a proper roof over our heads.”
With the second phase of lockdown beginning, Mr. Pandya said, “I have lived in the city for almost a decade now and have earned my bread by working hard. Look at what life has come to now.”
Utkarsh Goswami, 32, a native of Uttarakhand, who used to work in restaurants here, said, “People are talking about the threat of the virus. But hunger will kill us even before the virus is able to reach us. We have no drinking water here, no proper place to sleep, there are mosquitoes biting us the entire night and authorities do not seem to care. How do you think we will survive these issues?”
