KARIMNAGAR: At a time when people are struggling hard to limp back to normalcy, those who used to earn a living by leasing out portions of their houses and buildings are now finding it difficult to get tenants. As a result, one can easily find many to-let boards at every nook and corner of Karimnagar town.
They started facing this crisis with the commencement of lockdown, after which most of them lost jobs and became incomeless. With no reasons left to continue staying in rented houses, amid lack of money, they started heading back.
Apart from daily-wage labourers, those who worked in private firms were also left in dire straits. Several private employees, especially teachers, who had not been receiving salaries for the past two months, were also forced to vacate their rented houses. Most of them migrated from rural areas after getting a job and had been living in rented houses since then. However, with the lockdown leaving them in the middle of nowhere, these tenants decided to head back and find alternate jobs.
Speaking to Express, a person named Yella Goud, who migrated to the town along with his wife, said he used to earn daily bread by selling eggs, whereas his wife worked as a private school teacher. However, after the lockdown, they both became incomeless. While he has not been able to resume his business, his wife has not received her salary for the past two months.
“Meanwhile, the house owner started mounting pressure on us demanding the payment of rent. Hence, we decided to go back,” he said. Another man who worked as a computer operator at a private company said that his firm sacked him recently claiming fund crunches. As a result, he too had to vacate his house, where just a ‘to-let board’ remains hanging now. Meanwhile, the owners of those buildings where the migrants used to stay have also put up to-let boards in front of the properties. However, they too are unable to find takers.