Back for jobs, many still struggle to pick up pieces

Amritsar: One year after Covid-19 wreaked havoc on people’s lives, the dust is yet to settle. Factories closed and people lost their jobs in droves. The worst affected were migrant labourers, who had no savings to fall back on.
One of them was Saroj Kumari, who had no idea how to feed her children after her husband was handed the pink slip. The family decided to return to their native place, Usmanpur near Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh (UP) but struggled to make ends meet.Eventually, they decided to return to Amritsar.
“The coronavirus pandemic didn’t scare us as much as losing the job since we didn’t have any savings or anything to feed the family. We had never borrowed food, but now we were forced to stand in queues to receive free ration. Life became miserable,” said Saroj, who returned to Amritsar with her husband Jugi Lal in December.
Since they had been living in Putlighar area of Amritsar for the past over one and a half decades with their three children, they hoped that a fresh start would be easier here. Even though things have not changed much, they say they are stronger than before.
“The Covid-19 situation is almost the same as it was last year, the only difference is that we have not panicked. We are not even thinking of going back to our native place. We will live and die here,” she declared. She said the family had received some money from the UP government, but it was not sufficient for them to move on.
Raju Singh , a worker in the hosiery industry, faced a similar situation. He had been living in Amritsar for over a decade and had returned to his native village of Bharai Khurd in UP. “On March 22, the factory closed down and I was jobless. I had nowhere to go and didn’t know how to send money back home so I also decided to go to my village.”
Dismissing the claims of the UP government of extending financial help and giving jobs to migrants returning to their native places, Raju said, “I didn’t get any financial help or job. After waiting for a few months, I returned to Amritsar early this year but the job scenario had changed here as well.” As against a fixed salary, the factory owner now hired him on contract. “Earlier, I used to get around Rs 15,000. Now, I barely make Rs 10,000. Covid-19 has changed my life,” he said. General secretary of UP Kalyan Parishad, Rambhawan Goswami reasoned that those who returned had pressing commitments. “Only 30% to 35% of the migrants who shifted back to their native places have come back,” he said, adding that those who returned had financial compulsions here or had children in high school etc. “A few had taken advance from their factories, many had taken loans. Those who have children in higher classes have returned,” he said.
Goswami said that the UP government paid Rs 1,000 per person for three months besides giving 5 kg ration per person for six months. He also claimed that the UP government provided them work under MGNREGA as well as loans on easy terms.