Ajit’s hope to earn livelihood revived
Dinesh Manhotra
Tribune News Service
Jammu, May 21
Thursday morning revived the shattered hopes of Ajit Singh, 56, a scooter mechanic, to save his six-member family from starvation as he was back to work after 58 days of lockdown. With limited income, the past nearly two-month lockdown was a distressful period for Singh, as for the first time in his life he was helpless in fulfilling the needs of his family.
Although shops opened in Jammu on Wednesday, he waited for a day to get back to work as he was not sure that business would start normally, due to the spike in number of Covid cases in Jammu.
“As a scooter mechanic, our life is hand to mouth. We don’t have enough saving to feed our family for two months without any work,” Singh told The Tribune. He hoped that with the beginning of work he would save his family from starvation.
His economic condition can be gauged from the fact that he could not afford fuel for a two-wheeler. Due to the non-availability of public transport, Singh came all the way from old city to Shastri Nagar on foot this morning.
The only bread winner in the family, Ajit is also providing livelihood to two migrant labourer families of Odisha. While Singh has one assistant from Odisha, another migrant labourer is running a tyre-puncture shop in the same ‘premises’. So, three families are earning their livelihood from the small site.
Although many social organisations are providing ration and other material to the needy, people like Singh, who earn their livelihood through hardwork, do not accept any relief from such groups.
“Although scooter is outdated these days, due to the craze of motorcycles, yet I can earn bread and butter for my family,” Singh, who is known for his self-respect, dignity and honesty in the area, added.
