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Distancing a distant dream in Ludhiana
Risk of infection looms large over labour quarters in Giaspura and Focal Point, where families live in cramped shanties
The labour quarters of the city, which are cramped with people living in unhygienic conditions, can easily become centres for spreading the coronavirus.
There are thousands of labour quarters in the city with over 15 lakh migrant workers from different states including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Rajasthan.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), to avoid the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, one has to self-isolate and keep at least one-metre distance from anyone who is coughing or sneezing.
But social distancing seems like a distant dream for these labourers who share a small, dingy room with five or six family members. In general, around five or six such rooms are connected through a ‘Vehra’, with around 30 people residing in one place.
In Giaspura and Focal Point, there are around 200 persons residing in a labour quarter, which comprises around 30-50 rooms.
In one of the quarter located on Barewal Road, around 40 persons, ranging in age from a 3-year-old child to a 60-year-old elderly, live together in seven rooms.
As one enters this quarter, one can see these labourers and domestic workers living in a deplorable condition. They share a single washroom and there is a common place outside the washroom to wash utensils. Walking ahead, there is a small open space which connects these seven rooms.
These labourers have neither sanitisers nor face masks and now, they also lack essential food products.
“It would have been better if the administration allowed us to work as then we could maintain social distance while working. We would also be able to earn some money,” said Ram Darshan, who works as a driver for a garment factory. He hails from Hardoi district of Uttar Pradesh and lives here with his family of five.
Similarly, another labourer, Amar Sahni of Bihar, who is daily wage construction worker said , “We labourers are suffering the most. We are left with no earnings to purchase essential products. Our wives, who work as domestic workers in nearby houses, are borrowing food from their employers.”
“We live in a small building with 40 persons. So, the life of labourers like me is at a great risk,” he added.
Finding no hopes here, some labourers of Basti Jodhewal were found walking back to their native places in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Tarsem Jodhan, former member of legislative Assembly (MLA) and president of Punjab Mazdoor Union, said, “The conditions of labourers is bad here. There are not getting any basic facilities and their quarters are stinking and in a poor condition. Therefore, many labourers have started going back to their native places.”
“There are some sectors such as farming and brick kilns where the labourers work while maintaining distance with each other. The administration should allow such works to continue as it will help them earn,” he added.
