KOZHIKODE: Ranjeeth KC, 34, has been keeping track of Covid-19 news through social media. The Nepali youth was greatly impressed by the valiant fight being put up by tiny Kerala against the pandemic. He shared his feelings with two fellow countrymen — Kumar Buda Magar, 23, and Gopal Buda Magar, 20, and they could not have agreed more. All three of them are employed as labourers at Hotel Amwaj in Karassery here.
Trusting the surveillance measures of Kerala, the trio decided to stay put at Karassery even when 10 migrant labourers, who were their coworkers, returned home due to the Covid scare. After the hotel closed following the lockdown, they had been quite apprehensive about losing their jobs besides now knowing how to find money to meet their daily expenses.
But now, they are breathing easy since the hotel’s kitchen has been turned into the Karasserry grama panchayat’s community kitchen. Impressed by the overall Covid measures being taken by Kerala, especially its treatment of migrant labourers, the trio pooled in their resources to donate `10,000 to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund.
‘We believe we are safe in Kerala’
“We believe we are safe here. The intervention of authorities is evident in all spheres, right from hospital care to supply of essential items. Besides the three of us, three fellow labourers chipped in,” said Ranjeeth.
He is from Salyan district of Nepal while the other two are from Rukum. The trio has been working at the hotel for the last two years. “I’ve 13 migrant labourers working in my hotel. Ten of them left for home as uncertainty prevailed in the wake of the lockdown and public transport ceased. But the trio chose to stay back. It was on Thursday that they got their salary and they themselves took the initiative to make the contribution to the CMDRF,” said M P Haneefa, owner of the hotel. Moved by the gesture, V K Vinod, president, Karasserry grama panchayat, came to the hotel to receive the cheque in person.