Nirmala Devi, a 32-year-old pregnant woman at the construction site at Sector 5 in Kharghar has not been getting adequate food for the last 10 days. The food provided by the builder was not sufficient for the four members of her family. She has not been able to purchase milk for her one-year old baby since the last one week as the family did not have any money.
While most of the migrant workers have gone to their home towns during the lockdown, the few left behind in the city are now struggling to meet their ends meet. Many NGOs have now stopped distributing food and essentials after a majority of the migrants have left the city for their home towns in the Shramik Special trains. Unfortunately, the migrants who did not leave the city and depended on various NGOs help for food and essentials are now struggling.
Nirmala, who is from Basti in Uttar Pradesh, stayed back in the city, as she was pregnant. “I did not want to take any risk as I am pregnant. Many of our friends and relatives returned to our hometown by Shramik Special trains or by walking,” she said. She added that since there was no work at the construction site after lockdown, they did not earn any salary and are now left with no money.
However, a good Samaritan came to know about the plight of the poor family and used social media to inform the police about the plight of this family. The police with the help of an NGO got foodgrains delivered to the family immediately.
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Deepak Singh, a senior volunteer from Robin Hood Army who helped the needy family with foodgrains and milk powder said that the family was in dire need of milk for the baby and food grains for the family. Singh said that around 25 percent of migrants are still in the city and they need food and support. “We have already distributed grocery kits to around 10,000 families in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, and other areas. We will continue as many of them are still in the city,” said Singh.
