Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
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Online edition of India's National Newspaper Tuesday, May 06, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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Tamil Nadu
Sunadar and Kesari Even in the best of times, migrant workers lead a deprived and malnourished life. Unlike other low-income groups, they do not ever have access to the Public Distribution System in their places of stay. With the steady increase in the prices of essential commodities, many of them in the construction industry are finding that any extra money that they earn at worksites in Chennai is vanishing into thin air. The number of such workers in Chennai from other districts of Tamil Nadu, mainly Salem and Namakkal, and other States, mostly Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal, could run to a few lakhs. This estimate is based on the scale of the projects currently on in and around the city. Many of the migrant workers were engaged earlier in traditional vocations such as farming and fishing in their native villages. The failure or non-viability of such vocations drove them elsewhere. Since they also incurred huge debts, many chose to come to cities such as Chennai, leaving their families behind.There are instances where entire families have made the metropolis their temporary home in the hope of better income levels. Some manage to earn a decent sum, but for others who get daily wages of less than Rs.100 a day, life is a perennial strain. The soaring prices over the past few months have hit the migrant workers hard as their wages have not increased proportionately. They are not covered under the PDS. “Do you mean it? Is rice available at Rs.2 a kg here?” asked Sunadar, from Raipur in Chhattisgarh, when told of what is on offer through the PDS. He and his wife Kesari have been working at the construction site of a bridge near Tambaram for more than six months now. Such projects rarely have facilities to house families. Migrant workers are not eligible for ration cards for the obvious reason — they are not permanent residents. Common kitchensUntil some months ago, each shed at the worksite used to have its own independent kitchen. But in an apparent effort to cut costs, this was stopped. Now there are only common kitchens for groups of sheds. The rise in the prices of wheat and atta has hit them, and “roti-sabji” has been replaced by “dhal-chawal.” Workers cook twice a day — in the afternoon and in the evening. Even the “dhal” does not always contain vegetables and hence the stew is mostly bland. They buy rice from wholesale markets and opt for whatever variety that is the cheapest — at Rs.10 a kg in rice shandies. Leave alone meat, fish and poultry, even common vegetables rarely find a place in their diet. There are risks they face. In September 2007, more than 30 workers from Orissa and West Bengal fell ill after they ate fish that were caught from the Adyar in Manapakkam near their sheds. As kerosene is expensive, they manage with firewood in the form of fallen twigs and bramble they collect from their places of work and stay.
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