In Gurugram slums, not keeping safe distance is a cry for help

In the urban village clusters of Sikander, Nathupur and Chakkarpur, where a mix of daily wage workers and house help live surrounded by some of city’s most affluent

In the urban village clusters of Sikander, Nathupur and Chakkarpur, where a mix of daily wage workers and house help live surrounded by some of city’s most affluent areas, not following social distancing norms is a cry for help.

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“We sit in large gatherings to gain attention of passersby or agencies so that they visit us and get to know that we have been sleeping on an empty stomach. Our children are only eating one meal a day,” Roshini Devi, a native of Bihar who has been living in Sikanderpur area for the last 16 months with her five children and husband, said standing in a queue for water outside a local resident’s house which enjoyed supply.

Some 10 women had line up to fill water. Another group of women, their faces a mix of worry and fatigue, were seen talking about “the old days before the lockdown”.

Daily wage earners have been the worst affected by the nationwide lockdown enforced to check the spread of Cornavirus disease (Covid-19) in India. The lockdown, which has dried up all sources of income across the country, was extended till May 3 on Tuesday when Haryana’s Covid tally touched 184, with 32 cases from Gurugram, including 1 death. The state has 141 active cases.

“If we are destined to die on an empty stomach, we will. We have been eating dry roti and water for 15 days. It is very difficult to live like this; no water, food or electricity. Initially, we were happy; we had heard that the government agencies would provide cooked food or ration, but they only came here once and that too on April 9. We were able to stretch our meagre savings only on the basis of charity by locals, RWAs and NGOs,” Roshini said who has now given up on her dream to build a house back home in Bihar.

Area councilors, however, denied the claim that no food had been distributed. They claimed that they were distributing cooked food but the slum residents were insisting on only accepting ration.

Ward 34 councilor RS Rathi said, “I am myself visiting Sikanderpur and delivering food to more than 900 families and community lunch is provided to all the people. Even community centres are organising ‘langars’. There is no shortage of food as many residents are going and giving with bread, milk and vegetables.”

Roshini’s neighbour, Bharti Anand, also a native of Bihar, however, said, “Food is supplied, but only to a few families who know the village sarpanch. We are neglected and we sit all day and night in wait of cooked food or dry ration.”

Gurugram deputy commissioner Amit Khatri assured he will take up the issue of distribution of ration with agencies involved and will ensure no one sleeps hungry. “There is enough ration and many volunteers are helping in providing food and dry ration in these areas,” he said Tuesday.

When Team HT visited these places on Tuesday, groups of people were seen moving around freely, sitting together talking how their savings were running out or how it would have been better to do someone’s house work—all RWAs in the city have told residents to pay their house help for the length of the lockdown.

Nearly 2 lakh migrants, most of them daily wagers, reside in Sikanderpur, Chakkarpur and Nathupur. Majority come from poor villages in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. While some are here with their families with an average of two to three children, others save up to send money home.

Most were unhappy with the extension of the lockdown announced on Tuesday. None of them wore a mask—compulsory in Gurugram—or were interested in social distancing as no one ever told them about it. Only a few fellow people seemed to know that it was mandatory to wear masks, but did not understand why, nor did they know that a scarf would also suffice.

“Everything we know about this illness is through messages or videos on the internet,” Mahesh, a resident of Chakkarpur said, adding that no government official or policeman had ever come to tell them about what’s happening.

Vikas Paswan, who lives in Sikanderpur and is a native of Bhagalpur in Bihar, said they were ready to come on the roads to protest and ask the government to provide them with buses so they can go home. Vikas lost his job as a construction site worker, which fetched him ₹600 per day.

“What is the point in staying here when the authorities have no interest in our lives? They must let us go. We are being held hostage in these slums. We are not allowed to move out, we fear police action and we are not getting any food or water from agencies,” he said.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the nation on Tuesday morning said that addressing the woes of the daily wage earners was among his top priorities, no concrete set of instructions have been issued nor mechanism created by any key ministry or state administration to ensure this most marginalised section of the society can continue to earn its living.

“There has been no work for almost two months now. Our saving will last another week and we have children to feed. We cannot borrow meals as everyone is facing the same problem and we can’t even beg; there are no people,” said Sikaderpur resident Shanti Kumari, who worked as a daily wager at the Marble Market.

People in Nathupur were equally worried and scared.

Sanjay Paswan, a daily wage earner, said they come out in the evening and chat, play cards and look for at the road waiting for food trucks or cars of residents who come to distribute food.

STARK CONTRAST

Meanwhile, things looked more cheery in Chakkarpur where a large section of the workers are engaged in people’s homes and were receiving their salary regularly.

Suresh Yadav of Bihar, who has been living in Chakkarpur for three years, said, “Our area comes alive at night; we watch movies, cooking meals together and play cards all day because most of the women here work as domestic helps and are getting money so we can enough our meals,” he said.

Asked why they weren’t following social distancing, residents said that since they were not in the containment zone they could go to markets and “be normal”.

These select families in the slum, however, have become the envy of their less fortunate neighbours. “Why this discrimination? Even we should not get paid money by the contractor for not working as we were hired for a project and not our fault,” said Vinod Shukla, a daily wager.