In mid-June, Savitri Gomte heard from her neighbour that Mumbai’s suburban local trains were about to re-open. As a domestic worker who had...
In mid-June, Savitri Gomte heard from her neighbour that Mumbai’s suburban local trains were about to re-open. As a domestic worker who had been out of work since the start of the Covid-19 lockdown in March, she felt a surge of relief and joy at the news.
Gomte’s income depends entirely on being able to commute from her house in Dombivali – a suburb 50 km north of Mumbai – to the homes of middle-class families in south Mumbai. A Central Railway local train, with a Rs 300 monthly pass, is her only affordable transport option.
“I thought if they re-start the trains, I would finally be able to earn for my family again,” said Gomte, 35, who has two daughters in secondary school.
But Gomte’s joy lasted just for a day: it turned out that the news she had heard was only partially true.
Mumbai’s local trains did resume services on June 15, but only for limited categories of essential workers, such as staff of various municipal, government and public sector offices. Members of the general public – including unorganised sector workers like Gomte – are still not allowed to commute on the trains, six months since the lockdown began and three months since the city gradually began to...
