Employers’ body provides food to workers but provisions are running out

MUMBAI: The Covid-19 pandemic has spawned a humanitarian crisis in the narrow bylanes of Wadala. Deprived of income to meet their living expenses in Mumbai, around 2,000 workers employed in small-scale textile units here plan to trek 1,400km back to their homes in Uttar Pradesh.

These men are employed in the small-scale textile units in National Market—among India’s oldest readymade garments markets—along Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Marg. Their units shut almost 20 days ago, since Covid-19 cases began to be reported.

Their employers promised them meals if they continued to pay the rent for their kholis —tiny rooms shared by around 10 workers. After almost three weeks of providing them two meals daily, now the employers’ association has said it won’t be able to keep up the charity any longer.

The textile workers, who earn Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 a month, want to return home and plan to walk to Uttar Pradesh as they are worried about the plight of their old parents, wives and young children there.

Rafiq Shaikh is one of the workers preparing to leave for Kanpur where his parents are. “I have just Rs 5,000 left in my bank and don’t want it to get depleted further by staying on here,” he said. Shaikh’s parents have been asking him leave Mumbai.

“Trains and buses are not functioning. If no group or people come forward to help soon, I am going to start walking,” he added. His roommate said, “It is better to die in our villages than due to starvation and coronavirus.’’

The employers’ association, comprising 300 wholesale dealers of garments, had put up a makeshift structure in the marketplace 10 days ago to serve as a kitchen for the workers. National Market president Yasin Shaikh said the association has no means to continue feeding them for months. “The lockdown has handicapped us. Our groceries’ stock and money are depleting,” he said. Moreover, it is a challenge to buy provisions in bulk during the ongoing lockdown. “To feed 2,000 workers, we need huge quantities that can best be brought from the APMC market in Vashi, but how do we go without policemen beating us,” he said.

Since several workers stay in one room where they eat and sleep, “even if one of them gets infected, the infection will spread easily,” said Shaikh. The association wants the government to organize a special train or bus to send the workers to UP.

Social worker Imran Khan said locals donate rice and dal for the stranded workers. “The fear right now is starvation more than coronavirus. Even if these men start walking, it will take them a week or more to reach home. Given their poor nutritional status, they could contract the virus along the way,” said Khan.

Congress corporator Sunil More, who visited the slums adjoining the market, said, “I have spoken to a local gurudwara as well as a few builders to continue providing meals for these stranded workers from Uttar Pradesh.” He also has given a contract to a private contractor to fumigate the workshops and houses.

But men like Rafiq Shaikh don’t want to stay on. In times of Covid-19, they would rather be home than thousands of kilometres apart from their families.

