Indian companies struggle to lure back migrants
MUMBAI: Spurning free air tickets, accommodation and higher pay, millions of migrant workers who fled India’s cities when Covid-19 hit are too scared to return, with grim implications for the already crumbling economy.
Migrant labourers form the backbone of Asia’s third-biggest economy toiling in every sector from making consumer goods and stitching garments to driving cabs.
But when India went into lockdown in late March, vast numbers lost their jobs, prompting a huge heart-rending exodus back to their home villages, sometimes on foot, their children in their arms. Some died on the way. Mumbai’s swanky highrises, for example, were built and largely staffed by people from poorer states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha, who worked as security guards, cooks and cleaners.
But as the city became a virus hotspot, around 80% of construction workers left the financial hub after work came to a standstill, according to the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry.
Four months on, with lockdown measures eased, some workers have trickled back but more than 10,000 building sites are lying virtually abandoned due to severe labour shortages across the city.
“We are trying our best to bring back migrant workers, even going to the extent of giving them air tickets, Covid-19 health insurance ... (and) weekly checkups by doctors,” real estate developer Rajesh Prajapati said.
“But it has not reaped any positive signs yet,” he said.