Daily wagers in Pipliwala town containment zone seek relief

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 8

Tenants of three houses at the Pipliwala town containment zone in Mani Majra have sought relief from the UT Administration. In a letter to the Adviser, they stated nearly 40 to 50 families were residing in house numbers 320, 321and 327, out of which 95 per cent were daily wagers, who helplessly depend on their daily wages to feed their families.

A positive case was diagnosed and confirmed last week in the area, they added. During a period of time the rest of the four members of the family also contracted the virus, they said, while adding that due to those five positive cases the lane was declared containment zone on Monday and they were confined to their respective houses.

Before the announcement of the containment zone, they were assured help and support from the authorities, which turned out to be mere empty words without action, they alleged.

“We are asked to purchase essentials with our own money. If we don’t work then how can we think of purchasing our household items? Moreover, most of us live on rent. We have already suffered a lot during the last three months of the lockdown. Many of us have lost work. We got relief last month and started working again. Unfortunately, we have been hit by such crisis as this that we are paying for someone’s mistake,” they said.

They requested the authorities concerned to shift the affected family to any nearby quarantine centre and provide relief to them by letting them go out and earn their daily bread and butter so that they do not suffer and starve.