SRIKAKULAM: With no alternative livelihood sources in the villages, people, who had returned to their home villages in Andhra Pradesh from Chennai and other places due to the COVID-19 situation, have started going back.
About 110 people from a small village of Kotta Amputam in Kanchili mandal returned to Chennai in the last three days. Though the migrant workers returned to the State for fear of coronavirus, they have gone back to the same place as they could not find any employment sources in their villages for survival.
Majority of the migrants had returned to their native villages before the lockdown. Some got labour works for a few days while others remained idle in the villages. The voluntary lockdowns even hit the chances of getting wage works in the rural areas.
As the survival is getting difficult, they have decided to go back. People from Kanchili, Kaviti, Ichchapuram and other Uddanam mandals have started going back to cities and other States. As many as 110 migrants had gone back to Chennai and other areas from Kotta Ampuram village, said Lingam Kesava Rao, the village head.
After return, they worked as agriculture labourers, construction workers and a few worked at coconut godowns. With the voluntary lockdown in the villages, construction works and loading and unloading works at coconut godowns have stopped.
Migrant labourers from Belagam, Buragam, Jadupudi and Kotta Ampuram villages in Kanchili mandal and from several villages of Kaviti mandal returned to Chennai and some went to Visakhapatnam for the construction works in L&T company.
"I returned to the village from Chennai before the lockdown was enforced," said Maddi Papa Rao, a resident of Kotta Ampuram. "I hardly got wage works twice or thrice a week in the village in various forms. I could not meet the basic needs of the family with meagre wage that I earned," he added.
"I took hand loans from the known people in the village to maintain the family. As I could not get sufficient works in the village due to the lockdown, I returned to Chennai. Despite knowing the COVID-19 situation in Chennai, I decided to go back for survival. If I did not return to Chennai, my family would have died of starvation. I returned to Chennai almost one month ago and a few others also came to Chennai about three days ago," Papa Rao added.
He also said that the company management in Chennai had been taking all precautions against Covid-19. Contacted, Kanchili NREGS additional project officer G Dhanunjaya Rao said that they had provided wage works to about 700 returnees.
As the labourers get an average daily wage of Rs 230, some migrants did not apply for job cards. Similarly, about 1,800 labourers have been stranded in the containment clusters, Dhanunjaya Rao added.