Gurugram: Factories open but many who stayed put still jobless

GURUGRAM: When a garment factory in the city started functioning with 50% of its pre-lockdown workforce in May, Puneet was one of those who wasn’t recalled.
The 35-year-old from Bihar hadn’t joined the exodus of migrant workers, pinning his hopes on the factory reopening. Since then, he has been visiting Labour Chowk near Sikanderpur metro station every day, hoping to bag a contract for any odd job.On most days, he returns disappointed. “There’s just so little work,” Puneet rued. “My company hasn’t called back. However, they did give me some money in April.”
Factories have opened but not all the jobs lost during the lockdown have come back.
As a result, many in the city whose livelihoods came from working shifts in factories remain unemployed. Sanjay Kumar (45), who worked as a welder with an electronics firm in Manesar, does not know if the manager will recall him. “On March 22, I was asked by the company to not report to work until further notice. I was given salary for 22 days of March but nothing after that. The company has resumed work now, but the managers say that their finances are tight and production is low because of weak demand. So, they don't need me,” said Kumar, who has to pay rent and the school fee for this two children.
Mohammad Ahmed (24) is struggling to feed himself but can’t return home because his family there is in dire straits too. "I used to work in a logistics company in Manesar. They have not opened since the lockdown. I don’t know if they will,” he says.
According to a survey by two NGOs — Safe In India and Agrasar — almost half (47%) of the workers who chose to stay put in the city are still unemployed. A majority of these are skilled workers. As a result, many of them (64% according to the survey) have taken up any job they can find to sustain themselves. Besides, over one-third of the employed are receiving salaries much lower than what they did before the lockdown with the average drop in pay being around 30% from a level of around Rs 15,000 per month, the survey, titled Berozgar: A new report’, pointed out.
“On one hand, there’s deep distress in finding jobs, and on the other, the incomes of those employed are pushing them to financial crises. Yet, the majority is expected to stay put because even in rural areas MNREGA has still not created enough jobs,” said Sandeep Sachdeva, co-founder & CEO of Safe in India Foundation.