If I don’t work, how am I going to feed my family?: Daily wage labourers amid scorching heatwave
NEW DELHI/NOIDA: The country’s vast majority of daily wage workers, who generally work outdoors, are vulnerable to the scorching temperatures. The daily wage labourers have no other means of livelihood, so they have to toil through the day in soaring temperatures to ensure they and their families don’t go hungry.
Some areas of the national Capital have recorded temperatures of 43 degrees Celsius and even touched 49 degrees Celsius last week. Millennium Post talked to people who work as daily wage labourers and their work included scaling the walls, laying concrete and carrying heavy loads, with only ragged scarves around their heads as protection against the sun.
Ramashish Tiwari, 60, has been working as a daily wage worker for 30-35 years. He originally belongs to Bihar but now lives in Harola area, Noida and hardly manages to earn Rs 300400 per day. He told Millennium
Post that I can’t afford to take leave because I am dependent on daily wage income. If I don’t work, how am I going to feed my family? He further added that for a few days, I worked and then I had to sit idle for a few days because I am not able to manage in this scorching summer. The heatwave has affected my health but to survive in this city we have to work.
Sumita, 45, has been working as a daily wage worker in the Harola area, Noida and also works as a househelp to support her family. She hardly manages to earn Rs 200-300 daily. She moved from their home state of West Bengal for better work opportunities and higher wages in Delhi, leaving their three children to her parents. She said that we are also human beings and the heatwave has affected us. I had to wait for work in the scorching summer for 8 hours and still didn’t get work. She further added, “Because of the heat, sometimes I don’t go to work. I took days off and many times, fell sick from dehydration and had to go to hospital which means I had to lose one day’s income. I have to work to look after my children’s education who stay in West Bengal.
Ravi Kumar, 26, hailed from Bihar and has been working as a daily wage worker in the Harola area, Noida for the last 3 years. He hardly manages to earn Rs 400-500 daily. He said that we didn’t expect this heat in May. It is very hot here. How can one live peacefully? I had to work in a high temperature and sometimes it is unbearable for me to work in this condition. But there is a need for money. I had to send money to my hometown to support my parents. He further added, If I don’t work, I don’t get a single penny. How am I going to survive in the city?