MUMBAI: The lockdown has proved barbaric for barbers - employees of hair-cutting salons as well as their roadside cousins. While the owners of such businesses are dealing with the abrupt loss of income, their workers are staring at starvation.
The community has demanded immediate relief of at least Rs 2,000 per worker. Maharashtra has more than five lakh barbershops and salons, which employed, until days before the lockdown, more than 21 lakh people. But from March 18, business came to an abrupt halt.
According to Datta Anarase, president, Maharashtra Nabhik (barber) Mahamandal (MNM), "The situation of our colleagues in rural Maharashtra is worrying, as they are starving. We have written letters to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to announce a special package for us.”
This association is the biggest organisation of barbers in the state, with branches in all districts and tehsils. “More than 70 per cent barber shops and salons are operated from rental locations. In Mumbai, the minimum rent is around Rs 30,000.
We have not only paid the rent, but also the electricity bill. We paid our employees’ salaries for March and now, pay is due for April. Since these workers live away from their families, we have also been providing them food,” Anarase added.
“Our resources, too, are limited. In Nagpur, we spent out of our pockets in March. Now, we have sought the help of temples to ensure our workers are fed. How can we continue to foot these charges, when we have had no income for over a month?” asks Ambadas Patil, owner of a barber shop at Nagpur and the working.
