Meagre facilities for migrants stuck in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: The migrant labour stuck in the city are going unimaginable travails due to their penniless condition, devoid of food and shelter.

Though the government has come forward to provide shelter and take care of their needs, required help and relief fail to reach them, with the result that a large number of people are having to put up with meagre facilities. For instance, at the camp in Nampally, there are just four wash rooms for 350 migrant workers, mostly hailing from Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

In the pre-lockdown days, these workers were employed in restaurants, catering services and construction work among others.

Relating their plight, one Kumar who hails from Andhra Pradesh at the camp at Exhibitions Ground said, "The food is not good here. We have to wake up early in the morning to avoid long queues to use the toilet. Then to get the food, we have to wait in long queues for almost half an hour or more. We are also not given any money.

The government should at least provide some transportation so that we all can go to native places." A few others confirm his compliant and deplore that they have not received any money from the State government as announced earlier.

However, officials think otherwise. "They don't have families here. We are providing them with three meals a day and other required facilities. So, they don't require any money," said Yadagiri Rao, Additional Commissioner in charge of relief camps.

Shubash Godadre who hails from Madhya Pradesh and stays in the Miyapur relief camp said, "We are thankful to the government to provide us stay somewhere but we are facing problems with the food that is being provided to us. We are given curry on alternate days and sometimes we don't even get that. The quality of rice is also not proper."