Migrants, students distressed, anxious as landlords push for rent

A fortnight ago, Dinesh Kumar, his wife and his three children were allegedly evicted from their rented room in Bas Kusla village, Manesar, after Kumar, the sole

A fortnight ago, Dinesh Kumar, his wife and his three children were allegedly evicted from their rented room in Bas Kusla village, Manesar, after Kumar, the sole breadwinner in the family, could not pay the monthly rent of ₹2,900 to his landlord. Kumar, a migrant worker, had arrived in the city in March from Panchhi, Kanpur, and started working at a garment company. After the lockdown was imposed, he lost his job.

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“The landlord asked me to either pay rent for April or to vacate the house. I pleaded with him and said that since I could not go to work, I did not have any income with which to pay him. He started misbehaving with us and asked us to leave,” Kumar said.

Kumar packed his essentials in two bags and set off for Kanpur on foot, but was asked by the police to return. Finding no refuge, he settled in a vacant shanty in a slum near IMT Chowk. “We have been surviving on pulses and rice distributed in a government school nearby. Twice a day, I get food from the school. If the situation does not change and the lockdown continues, I shall try to start walking back to my village in Kanpur again,” he said.

Kumar is among the many people in the city who have been hit the hardest due to the lockdown that was imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Struggling to foot bills as economic activity remains restricted, many—especially migrant workers and students—have been unable to pay rent and face eviction. The tenants said that they had been living in ‘perpetual anxiety’ as landlords continued to ‘push’ for rent. Several alleged that landlords had issued veiled threats of eviction and in certain extreme cases, threatened police action, to force them into paying rent.

In April, the Haryana government had issued directions stating that landlords should not demand house rent for a month from migrant workers, students and paramedics in rural areas of the state. In the order, the authorities had said that if any landlord was found forcing such tenants to vacate, they would be liable to face strict criminal action. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had issued an order on March 29 asking landlords to stop demanding rent from students, workers and migrant labourers for a month.

Despite the order, tenants allegedly continue to face harassment and repeated warnings. In April, at least seven landlords were booked and arrested for forcibly demanding rent from tenants in the city.

Mukul Arya from Uttarakhand, who is a BA student in the city, has been renting a room for ₹6,000 per month at U-block in DLF Phase 3. “My father sends me the rent money but since the pandemic, his travel business has suffered. I told my landlord to defer the rent collection for a few weeks, hoping that the lockdown would end. But the landlord kept asking me for the rent. Last week, I vacated the room and have been staying with a friend since I did not want to burden my parents for the rent money in such a crisis,” he said.

Anand Shankar, a postgraduate student of law at a private university, said that he had to borrow ₹10,000 from a friend to pay his rent for last month. “I do not know how I will pay another month’s rent. My father used to wire me money from Punia, Bihar, every month for rent. Since the lockdown, he has not been able to go to the bank and he is not well-versed with online payment methods. I have requested the landlord for some relaxation. Otherwise, I shall have to move to a smaller room with more affordable rent. But how do I hunt for a house during the lockdown?” he asked.

As the lockdown continues, migrant workers continue to face the uncertain choice of leaving for their far-flung hometowns for an indefinite period or surviving on a pittance, hoping for work and economic activity to resume. Many, who were forced out of their shanties due to non-payment of rent, took shelter at relief centres run by the district administration for a few days before opting to return to their villages.

Rohit Rawat, who worked as a cook in the city, stayed in a relief camp in Sukhrali as he could not afford to pay rent after losing his job. “I had no money or savings. The eatery where I worked closed down, forcing me to leave. I took shelter at a relief centre. But one cannot stay there forever. So, I returned on a bus to my hometown in Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand. I do not think I shall ever return,” he said.

Harish Chand, who worked as a mason in the city for nine years, said that three days after the first lockdown was announced, his landlord asked him to pay rent or vacate his shanty in Gurgaon Gaon. “I was not getting any work and the landlord was continuously threatening me for the rent. So, I vacated the shanty and left for Tikamgarh, Madhya Pradesh, leaving all my belongings behind,” Chand said. He, his wife and five children walked 60 kilometres, took several buses along the way and hitched a ride from a truck driver to finally reach their village. It took them five days.

Varinder Singh Kundu, the additional chief secretary of Haryana and nodal officer for Covid-19 in Gurugram, said, “In this regard, the administration is ensuring compliance with the orders of the government. Till the orders are not revised, they will be implemented. We had received feedback that some people were forcibly demanding rent and action has been taken in those cases,” Kundu said.