Mumbai: Three weeks ago, Praful Behra came to Mumbai with 20 others from Kursud village, Odisha, to work as a labourer at a construction site in Lokhandwala, Andheri west.
While he was boarding a train to the maximum city, little did he know how the world would turn shortly after and not only would he find himself stranded but be scrambling to merely hold body and soul together.
After the nationwide announcement of the 21-day lockdown, Behra's employer asked him and his colleagues to go back home. They were not even provided with any temporary alternative accommodation.
"The day the PM announced a nationwide lockdown, our employers immediately asked us to go back home. There was a huge rush on trains as services were going to shut down post-midnight. We were unable to board a train and compelled to stay behind," said Behra.
"Our employers did not take any responsibility for us. Neither did they help us with booking tickets or finding a shelter," he added.
Since then, Behra and his coworkers have been staying at the under construction site. They barely have a roof above their heads and are also starving.
"We don't have money or utensils to cook food. We have been subsisting on dry food for the last ten days" said Rajesh Bhoi, another labourer.
"We don't have a roof over our heads. People are not ready to help us and if we go out on the streets, police chases us away," Bhoi added.
There are another 20 more labourers from Odisha stranded in Walkeshwar, south Mumbai. These seasonal workers come to the city for three months, every year, to work at construction sites.
The workers claim they have contacted Odia trusts in Mumbai, that assured them of help ten days ago and that was the last of it. They also claimed to have called the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) helpline, but there was no response.
"We tried getting in touch with BMC on their helpline, finding it on a poster but there was no response from them," claimed a disappointed Shyam Santra.
Like Behra and Bhoi, Santra and his colleagues too are getting by on dry foods and biscuits. Their stock is about to run out soon and they claim they do not have money to buy food again.
Santra says there are as many as 80 from Odisha who are currently stranded in different parts of the city. But they have no other option but to wait for the lockdown to be lifted.
"We desperately need help. We do not have food and shelter. We have been trying to reach out to people but no help is forthcoming," Santra said.
