Hyderabad: Why labourers are not under the vaccine radar?

Hyderabad: Poor and daily wage migrant labourers were sent back from special vaccination centres by authorities. Working staff at the vaccination centres told them that they could not administer vaccine as they were not added in the high-risk groups. Most of the labourers from various districts of the Telangana and also from other States wanted to get the jab during the special drive conducted by the government.

Most of the labourers work at markets in Begum Bazaar, Osmangunj, Afzalgunj and Nampally. The government has identified people from several sectors such as media, RTC staff, grocery stores etc in the high-risk groups and announced a special vaccination drive to them. Most of the shop owners registered along with their staff, but the labourers associated with loading and unloading were completely ignored.

Showing angst at the government, the labourers said that they were also exposed to large gatherings daily during loading-unloading, strangely, they were not listed for vaccination. A group of 15 labourers from Mahbubnagar working at various markets complained that they were sent back by the authorities from the Nampally vaccination centre when they reached to get the jab.

Mallesh Yadav, a labourer from Mahbubnagar said, "We load and unload daily and we come into contact with shop owners and their staff. What if we don't get vaccinated? We can become Covid carriers. They might have got the shot, but it is unsure that they won't get affected by us in future."

"Ignoring us is not a good decision of the government," said Nagappa, adding that time won't be far when shop owners ask for vaccination certificates before giving work even to labourers who do odd jobs.

Earlier, the State government had announced testing for labourers during the first wave and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao repeatedly said that the migrants would be vaccinated for sure in Telangana, but it was not done and moreover they have neglected the labourers even during the second wave, they alleged.

Meanwhile, the opposition slammed the government stating that it had no plans to vaccinate the migrant labourers. Most of the migrants are homeless beggars and daily wage workers and get easily get infected deadly virus and super-spreaders, but the government has no plans to test or vaccinate these groups, they alleged.