Coronavirus fear robs domestic helps of work in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: The domestic workers in the twin cities are struggling to meet their daily needs, and their very survival is at stake, as the households are averse to utilise their services fearing coronavirus spread.

Shamala (40), who has been working as domestic help for the past 10 years, is jobless for the last three months. She has not been called back to work due to fear of COVID-19. She says, "The situation for us is worse in Hyderabad, people are barely calling us for now due to the fear of COVID."

There are around 10 lakh domestic workers in Telangana State and four to five lakh in Hyderabad of which only 30 per cent have been reportedly retained by the households. Among them are full-time, part-time and live-in workers, many of them hail from districts or other states.

"Most of us have not been paid since the lockdown; we have no savings left now and many don't even have a ration card," adds Shamala.

In the case of Umadevi (35), another domestic worker from the city, she used to get ration from NGOs and other people, but now that the lockdown is relaxed the NGos have also stopped distributing ration and she had to resume work to earn for her family. "The employers are now not attending our calls. We have lost our existing jobs and have to rely on other small jobs," said Umadevi.

Echoing the same, Madhusudan, owner of Maids and Cooks, a domestic help company, says, "As most of the domestic helpers are migrant workers, they were unable to acquire ration during the lockdown. A few workers, who were working in a single household for the last many years, were called back to work and were also being paid during the lockdown, but many have been jobless now. People have daily errands to run but are scared to call the domestic help and are doing it on their own."

Domestic helps have played an important role for working housemakers who have to manage between their house work and office work.

Similarly, for S Kalpana, a beautician and a resident of Bharat Nagar in Kapra, managing her parlour and house was getting very hectic, so she had to opt for domestic help. "After the relaxation it has become difficult for me to manage my home and parlour. Though, i was not willing to call my domestic help for the safety of my family but had to request her to come and work to help me out. The business is slack as no functions are being held and my husband is also getting a lower salary. So, we engaged services of the maid only for cleaning utensils at Rs 700."