Pramila Pawar, 32, a native of Solapur was jobless since the lockdown was imposed across the country in March last week. She was a housemaid and used to work in four houses in Belapur village to keep her family going on. Her husband was a daily wage labour at a construction site in Ulwe.
However, the last two and a half months of lockdown was nothing but a nightmare for her family. They exhausted all their savings and now they are left with no money to even meet their daily needs. So, they have decided to leave for their native village.
One of the societies where she was working has been sealed after a corona positive case was found. And, the two other societies are not allowing maids, she said. “My husband who was working at a construction site in Ulwe is also jobless and construction work has started at few sites, but they are employing very few people,” said Pawar.
Other domestic help share a similar plight they had faced during the lockdown. Rupa Saha, a native of Bolpur in West Bengal said that a housing society in Nerul allowed working but put a condition that she cannot work at other societies. “It is very difficult to work at one house and run the family,” said Saha, adding that her husband who was having a small vada pav shop in Karanjade which was also closed during the lockdown, and now they don’t have enough money to run the family of six members. They have three daughters and one son.
NGOs provided many of them with groceries and foods. However, many of them do not see respite soon and they have decided to leave for their native village. Vinoti Kumhar, a native of Muzaffarpur in Bihar said that trains have already started and they would go back to her home town. “There will be agriculture-related work in Bihar as monsoon is approaching. And, the next three-four months will be very difficult in Mumbai because of the rains,” said Kumar. She added that they sold her jewelry to buy the train tickets.
It is not that only maids who are facing difficulties during the lockdown. Some families who are dependent on maids, have no problem with them coming into the society. “My parents are senior citizens and they need support for some work. We have domestic help who used to help the whole day. But, after the lockdown, we have to remain near them all the time,” said Pawan Verma, a resident of Seawoods.
