City volunteers help daily wagers with food, essential items to tide over pandemic woes
As the city gears up for another stringent lockdown, with thousands who test positive for COVID19 everday struggling for beds and oxygen, all attention is focused on those who are falling prey to the virus while the daily wagers in the city go hungry for yet another week. In an attempt to alleviate some of their concerns, a group of volunteers have stepped forward to help those in need by distributing food and essentials.
Darwin Annadurai, one of the volunteers, said, “There are so many people giving out food and essentials to COVID infected patients, but a large population of casual labourers are still going hungry. Hence we decided to help the daily wagers by providing essential items to them during the pandemic because these people don’t have a permanent source of income. Also, they don’t have family cards and are unable to get things from ration shops.”
According to the volunteers working with the labourers, a vast majority of them borrowed a huge amount of money from others to stay afloat during the first wave and have since been unable to repay them leading to further economic woes.
Another volunteer, Balakrishnan from Velachery, pointed out that they had distributed food packets to daily wagers during the first wave but their numbers have increased now. “Unlike last year, the number of daily wagers who lost their jobs has increased and they cannot afford to buy or make food. So, every day we distribute food packets and twice a week we give them essential items too. If they fall sick we take them to the nearby clinic and tend to their medical care. So far none in my care has developed COVID symptoms,” he said.