Sanitation staffer quits job to hold on to house
THE MAN could not return to his earlier job as the contractor had filled the vacancy
AS HIS ration card was registered in Adilabad, he could not avail it in city
A sanitation worker of the city had to quit his job as his house owner had asked him and his family to vacate the house if he continued performing his job and brought coronavirus infection to the entire household. The worker chose to keep the house than the job. His work contractor has hired someone else in his place.
Md. Imtiyaz, the sanitation person who works in Mahendra Hills, said, “Life has become terrible ever since. My landlord asked me to leave the job as I used to pick up garbage from Mahendra Hills area, where the first Covid-19 case was reported in the city in March.”
When the Centre and the state governments announced the lockdown, his landlord’s children, who reside abroad, suggested that the landlord not come in contact with Imtiyaz or his family, as he may then contract coronavirus from Imtiyaz. This made the house owner hold out the threat.
Imtiyaz informed about this to his contractor, who understood the situation and even paid him `5,000 in advance.
“My contractor told me to come back whenever I am ready,” Imtiyaz told this correspondent.
However, matters have gone worse for Imtiyaz. While his landlord has now given Imtiyaz permission to rejoin work, his contractor has already filled the vacancy.
“Though he has assured me a job within a week, I have not yet got it. I have asked several private firms for a job. On learning my job history, none wants to give me a job,” Imtiyaz laments.
Imtiyaz’s wife Raziya Begum used to work as a domestic help in four houses. “I used to earn about `10,000, apart from my husband’s income of `15,000. The lockdown has changed our lives. Two houses have stopped calling me for work. I am now earning only `5,000, which has to be given as rent to the landlord, who has not given any relief from paying rent.”
Their ration card is registered in their native village in Adilabad district. Ration shops in Hyderabad have refused to give them ration promised by the government as a relief measure. “The education of our children and livelihood has become difficult now,” says Raziya.
The couple says they are going through considerable trauma, with their children asking for new clothes for Ramzan. Imtiyaz has taken up a part-time job of cleaning cars in the neighbourhood.
He is collecting from car owners `500 per month in advance for Ramzan expenses, so that he can make his children happy.
Imtiyaz did not want his photograph to be used.