Will the thousands of migrant workers come back to work in Telangana once normalcy gets restored and will they do it soon enough to be of consequence? In areas like construction industry, 90 % of the work depends upon workers from other States, according to builder K. Ashwin Rao who also says that their presence is necessary no sooner the lockdown is lifted and the government gives the go ahead to start work.
He has an estimated 500 workers from other States on his construction site who are being provided with food during the lockdown period. “This is to ensure that there is no delay in resuming work,” he pointed out.
Most of the workers who have set out for their distant homes on foot had been involved in a plethora of activities in the formal and informal sectors and were literally thrown out from the work places.
Bitter experience
The hardships faced by them during the last few weeks have made them sufficiently bitter to vow never to come back, evident from the talk that The Hindu had with many of them passing through Adilabad on the NH 44.
“The labour contractor simply abandoned us. We are on the road since 15th of this month with hardy any money or food,” observed a resentful Md. Asjad Azam and Md. Zahoor, a duo from Arariya in Bihar who used to work in the packing section of a fodder plant in Reddipally of Medak district.
“Our employers got their photos clicked while handing us food packets for the one time which they did to impress the government that they were feeding us. They simply vanished after that photo session,” lamented Deepak Kol Adivasi from Ladiari Karshana in Uttar Pradesh who used to work in a chocolate factory in Katedan in Hyderabad and is headed home, totally dependent on the donors providing food along the NH 44.
Not willing
Komal Ahirwar of Bagroi village in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh is among the four families of masons who were working on a site in Goudelli near Medchal. He did praise the food and other facilities being provided by the Adilabad district administration in the camp near Chanda (T) village in which he is lodged at present, but was not receptive of the idea of returning for work here.
The frame of mind that the migrant workers are in at present indicates that it will take a lot of persuation for them to come back. This could even mean a slow start to the economy whener it happens.
Mr. Ashwin Rao, however, holds a different view. “The dismal employment situation in their States will have them return to work here,” he asserted.
