Weekend lockdown increased the concern of migrant labourers, fear of snatching their livelihood

On January 8, when Mohammad Harun left his house with a rickshaw, the roads were deserted and it was discovered that the government had imposed a weekend lockdown. After waiting for a few hours, he returned to his labor colony of Dallupura in East Delhi. Four years ago, Harun came to the capital Delhi, 1300 km from Araria in Bihar, to earn four paise and now he is able to earn 300-400 rupees daily by driving a rickshaw.

In this, they have to run their family, send money home and also have to pay off the debt. Harun has a loan of Rs 20,000 from his landlord, this loan is only for the rent during the lockdown period in the first and second wave. The rent of the match room in which Harun lives with his children is Rs 3000.

During the lockdown of the first and second wave of Corona, which used to show the deserted roads, empty markets, silence in the streets, now the same sight is again visible in the capital of the country, Delhi. This is the first weekend lockdown of the third wave and apart from essential services, everything is locked in the capital.

From rickshaw puller Mohammad Harun to hawker Laxminarayan and his fellow laborers are scared to hear the sound of lockdown. We have spoken to migrant laborers by visiting some labor settlements and Labor Chowk in Delhi NCR.

Laxminarayan, a resident of Madhubani in Bihar, lives in the labor colony of East Delhi and hawks cosmetic items. Laxminarayan has come out of his settlement and has come on the main road to see how is the weekend lockdown. He says that 'more sales in the cosmetic ferry used to happen only on Saturdays, Sundays, but now the business has come to a standstill due to the weekend lockdown.