When most of the states, including the national capital, is finding it hard to control the crisis within the migrant workers, Kerala’s model in treating its ‘guest workers’ in the time of the lock down is setting another example to many.
Television, indoor games like carrom and chess for entertainment and even recharge for mobile phones are just some facilities provided for ‘guest workers’, as migrant labourers are called in Kerala, by the LDF government,
While migrant labourers in many states are up in arms over lack of facilities given to them, including transport to their states, the more than 3.5 lakh ‘guest workers’ in 19,764 camps in Kerala have no complaints and are waiting for the dangers of the pandemic to pass.
“The basic needs of the workers like drinking water and cooking facilities have been ensured. Those who prefer to have food like chapathi and sabji are given that. Milk is supplied to the camps through state-run Milma.
Along with that, food from community kitchens has also been provided to the workers. Besides, if they wish to prepare their own food, the required items are supplied to them,” a senior official from the Labour Department told P T I.
The state government has also been issuing posters, making announcements and video messages in various languages, including Assamese, Odiya, Hindi and Bengali, among others, to sensitise the guest workers on the deadly COVID-19 and the importance of social distancing and cleanliness.
Most of the guest workers who shared their thoughts with P T I, expressed the hope that they would be able to meet their families after the lockdown ends, but were also worried about the jobs in the future.
“I came to Kerala years ago from Maharashtra. My whole family is still there. I go there once in a year. Everything was well and fine here till this issue,” Babu Lal, a guest worker, now lodged at a make-shift camp in a school located in the capital city of the state, said.
He said those in the camp get breakfast, lunch, snacks in the evening and dinner and they have been following the social distancing norms.
“After all this (pandemic scare) is over I will visit my family. But before going to Maharashtra, I will have to work here for one or two months so that I can save some money before I meet my family,” Lal, who speaks and understands Malayalam well, told P T I.
These workers, the major labour force of Kerala, were employed in construction, road works and in hotels, supermarkets and also as private security guards.
Some of them have considered this lockdown period as a vacation from their hectic work schedules.
“I have been working in various hotels for nearly a decade in Kerala and at restaurants. The work starts early in the morning and goes on till late at night. Now our hotel is closed and we are in this camp. We don’t have any work, but have food and accommodation, along with TV,” Gautam, a worker from Odisha, said.
Gautam’s camp, a government school which houses at least 215 workers from various states, has two televisions with cable connection.
Another worker said he was bored of sitting idle without any work and was also worried also whether there would be any jobs for them after the lockdown ends.
“We are staying here without any work. The only issue is that we don’t have any income as of now. I don’t know whether there will be any jobs after all this ends. We need to send money to our families also,” Prem Kumar, an Uttar Pradesh resident said.
He was working as a private security guard and later left that for a job in a hotel.
The state has appointed a rapid response team headed by Labour Commissioner Pranab Jyothinath to look into the welfare of the guest workers.
A district-level team inspects the labour camps in the state every day to monitor the situation.
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