Ajeeta Mehta is relieved to have made it back to Bihar’s Rohtas district after spending two months with depleting income and food stocks in...
Ajeeta Mehta is relieved to have made it back to Bihar’s Rohtas district after spending two months with depleting income and food stocks in a village in Haryana’s Gurugram district.
Mehta, 24, worked as a contractual worker at Minda Industries in Manesar, which supplies motorcycle parts to Maruti Suzuki and Hero Honda among others. Like all other industries, it had come to a halt when the nationwide lockdown began on March 25.
On April 12, when Scroll.in spoke to Mehta and three other auto-component industry workers, they were gripped with anxiety about their job security and future income. Mehta’s company, for instance, had paid him only Rs 5,000 of the regular wages of Rs 7,500 for the month of March. Many others had gone without wages.
The workers said they were running out of savings and food. They wanted to go back to their villages in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, but were unable to since all modes of public transport had been suspended.
On April 29, the Centre announced that it would run Shramik Express trains for stranded migrant workers. But the workers discovered that getting a berth on the Shramik trains was no less than winning a lottery.
Of the four workers Scroll.in spoke to in April, only Mehta was able to...
