Lockdown turns para motor pilot into daily wage labourer in Andhra Pradesh
SRIKAKULAM: The sky was the limit for para motor pilot Savara Orymial. But then, the lockdown was enforced. The 21-year-old native of the hilltop village of Pandra in Seetampeta mandal benefitted from the setting up of the NTR Adventure Park in the tribal region of Seetampeta in 2017, as he got a job there as a para motor (powered paragliding) pilot.
Orymial was the breadwinner of his family of six, including his parents and siblings, and used to support them with the Rs 10,000 he earned every month.However, the lockdown brought him misery as the park had to be shut. Without any other option, Orymial started working as a daily wage labourer in agricultural fields and construction sites to feed his family.
“Since March, I lost my monthly earning of Rs 10,000, and alternate employment was hard to find,” he says. “Finally, I found some work at construction sites and agricultural fields.”
Orymial adds that he has been working as a daily wage labourer under the MGNREGS on behalf of other job card holders, for which he gets Rs 200 per day. “Our family remained hungry for several days as we had no income,” he says.
The other pilot and co-pilots at the NTR Adventure Park have also been forced to work as daily wage labourers due to the lockdown. To create employment for tribal youngsters, the then ITDA PO L Shiva Sankar developed several tourists sites in Seetampeta agency areas, including the NTR Adventure Park and the Mettaguda waterfalls.
About 60 tribal youngsters got jobs at the Adventure Park and waterfalls, and used to earn between Rs 7,000 and 10,000 per month.But since the lockdown, all of them lost their livelihood. “I got selected to be a para motor pilot after undergoing training in New Delhi for two months in 2017. The six people in my family are dependent on me, but since March, the management of the park stopped paying our salaries,” Orymial says.Though the park is soon set to reopen, the youngster says it might take a while for normalcy to be restored and for them to get their monthly salary again.