Secunderabad: With no help coming, many leave Cantonment area

SECUNDERABAD: Thanks to the lockdown and the apathy of the state government, the migrants are leaving the Cantonment area in droves.
Soon after infection rate got intensified during the second wave migrants began vacating Rasoolpura and the adjoining slums. Their numbers shot up once the lockdown came into force on May 12.
Though chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao assured financial assistance of Rs 500 and 12 kilograms of rice or wheat flour, the migrants in Cantonment area did not receive this dole.
“Perturbed with the negligent attitude of the state government over 30,000 migrants living in my ward (no.II) left the city. Perhaps this is one area in the city which houses the largest number of migrant population,” said former Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) member S Keshava Reddy.
Thousands of migrants live in Rasoolpura, Annanagar, Chandrababu Naidu Nagar and about half-a-dozen slums in ward no.II. Many of them belong to Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana districts.
“Of the 1.5 lakh migrants here, 60% of them are masons, hamalies in the Bowenpally and Monda markets, servant maids etc. Surprisingly, even after the government announced sops to migrants, none of the officials visited this area. The SCB officials also did not bother to sanitize the slums. I used my own vehicle for this purpose,” Reddy said,