Earning Rs 50 became great thing, due to lockdown

Amaravati: A shoe polish worker has been striving to get Rs 30 to Rs 50 per day in front of the District Collector's office in Guntur. He dared to work despite a strict lockdown and highly spread of COVID19, because he could not survive otherwise.

Pothipogu Santhakumar, a 40 year old man, has been doing this work between 6 am to 7 am. In fact, it is his profession to earn bread and butter. During the normal days, he used to get between Rs 200 to Rs 400 per day. But now, earning hardly Rs 50 per day became a big challenge and great achievement, thanks to the lockdown and spread of COVID19 in the town particularly and State in general.

As he could not earn money to feed himself and his mother, he has been depending on the meals being distributed by the NGOs and other social workers. This is just an example. There are so many small, marginal and poor people who are dependents on daily wages, and have been facing almost similar problems due to lack of income from more than one month.

Speaking to this correspondent, Santhakumar said that even though he started doing the work at the Collectorate, he could not get the costumores. He explained the reasons for that too. He said that since the police imposed heavy restrictions, the residents are not coming out of the houses.

If the offices are functioning and the employees need to attend for the work, then they think about the shoe polish. But, no one is needed to get their shoes polished. Further, he observed that the police also not allowing him to be there on the road beyond 9 am.

The residents and other employees engaged in the emergency service have been rushing to purchase the groceries and vegetables, at that time. The District Collector has been allowing the residents in Guntur Municipal Corporation to purchase the groceries, vegetables and fruits between 6 am to 9 am only.

Santhakumar said that, even though some of the police personnel and other employees working in the COVID19 duties have been getting their shoes polished. But, that is very minimal and not sufficient to cross the income of Rs 50 per any given day.

There are so many people who have been facing many financial problems due to lack of work.