Coimbatore: Unable to go home, migrant workers stock up essentials for a week

COIMBATORE: A native of Bihar, 24-year-old Rakesh Kumar would be without work till March 31 as micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) units have decided to shut down to curb the spread of Covid-19. He has been working with an auto spare parts unit at Edayarpalayam in the city. He has stocked rice, wheat flour and vegetables for a week as he is not sure whether shops would have enough grocery stock when Section 144 is in force in the city.
Rakesh is staying with four friends, who are also migrant workers at MSME units, in a room near his workspace. “My employer paid us Rs 1,000 as advance to buy essentials. We have enough stuff to cook and eat,” he said.
Like him, Lallan Kumar, 25, also from Bihar, stays with three of his friends in a room. He has been working with an MSME job work unit in the city for the past four years. “We can’t leave for home as there are no trains. We have enough food to manage for the week,” he said.
Lallan said he had spoken to his family over phone. “They asked me to stay safe in the room as corona virus is spreading. We can manage for a week. But if the situation continues, we don’t know what would happen.”
As per the industry estimate, there are around one lakh such migrant labourers from northern states, mainly from Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha, in the district. Most of them have been staying here for at least two to three years.
The trend of labourers migrating to south in search of jobs has been prevalent for a decade now, with fewer jobs for them in agriculture and construction sectors at their home states. Here, they work in foundries and job work units and acquire skills.
Micro and small industry owners have decided to pay the workers half of their regular pay on no-working days, while bigger units have decided to pay them in full. “We hope that migrant labourers would be able to manage with the pay,” industrialists said.