No job, livelihood is at stake for them

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 10

After serving for nine years as a Class IV employee at a leading public school, being run by a religious society, Sanjiv Kumar, 37, has been asked to put in his papers and withdraw the entire amount from his Provident Fund account.

The introduction of the prolonged pan-India lockdown at the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country brought untold miseries and hassles to people from the marginal sections.

Sanjiv had joined at Rs 3,500 monthly salary about nine years ago. About two months ago, he was drawing Rs 11,000 salary. A father of three school-going children, he is the sole bread winner of the family, in which he is supposed to look after his aged mother and wife. “In the given circumstances, I cannot get the job anywhere.” He claims that there are 17 other people like him who were issued pink slip by the school. He added that the school administration told them that they would be hired through agency.

Rakesh Kumar, a body building trainer at a gym, lost his job. He used to earn Rs 15,000 per month. “I have not been paid salary for the past three months and there was a curt statement from the proprietor that they would consider him only after gym begins to operate.” He added that in all there were 12 employees at the gym.

Married less than a year ago, his father working as an accountant at Rs 10,000 per month was the sole bread winner of the family. Sanjay Kumar, working in a hotel on a monthly wage of Rs 12,000, lost his job like many others. In tears, he said it had become difficult for him to meet his expenditure.