BENGALURU: Nearly 50,000 coolies (hamalis) who load and unload vegetables, fruits and provisional goods from trucks at APMC Yard, KR Market, fruit market at Electronics City, Dasanapura Market, wholesale provision stores at Old Taragupet and New Taragupet, Sultanpet and other areas are worried because of the back-to-back bandhs. They said their livelihood is getting affected.
K Kumaresan, general secretary of the APMC Yard Mandi Hamaligara Sangha, told TNIE, “Hamalis are daily wage workers who earn anything between Rs 100 and Rs 1,000 per day, depending on the work they get. There are nearly 50,000 hamalis working in different markets across Bengaluru. Some of them are registered and have badges, while a majority of them don’t. With back-to-back bandhs, their livelihood is at stake. There is a bandh again on Friday and we will enter the weekend. The markets will again be closed for Gandhi Jayanti on Monday, and workers can get work only on Tuesday.”
“Hamalis were severely hit during the Covid-19 lockdown and were at the mercy of moneylenders. Their condition was gradually improving, but these back-to-back bandhs will again push them into a corner,” Kumaresan said.
There are many hamalis who rely solely on their daily earnings as they don’t have any savings, and many starve without food, including migrant workers, he said.
“We have extended our support to the Cauvery protest, but the government should think about the livelihood of daily wage workers,” he said. “During bandhs, the government should at least provide food to labourers. In case of frequent bandhs, they should consider their plight and distribute ration kits.”