Around 100 migrant workers from Andhra Pradesh, who were stranded in Madipakam area of Chennai due to lockdown, received aid from a local NGO there, thanks to the intervention by Andhra Pradesh Mahila Commission.
Commission Director R. Suez received a call from one of the stranded construction workers saying that they were starving since they had no work and thus no money to buy food.
On the directive of Mahila Commission Chairperson Vasireddy Padma, Ms. Suez contacted the Tamil Nadu State Mahila Commission Chairperson and requested her to help the migrant coolies and their families there.
Food arranged
A local organisation called Pioneer Trade immediately arranged food for the workers and it also started a community kitchen to feed them regularly.
Members of another NGO Madras Social Work Group provided essential commodities to the families, sufficient for a month and assured the AP Mahila Commission chief that the workers’ welfare would be taken care of.
The Mahila Commission circulated a WhatsApp number (6301411137) and two other contact numbers- Ms Suez (9701056808) and secretary M. J. Nirmala (9603914511) to enable women subjected to domestic violence or any other form of abuse in the lockdown period seek immediate help.
Ms. Padma said the commission had been getting calls from pregnant women in need of medical help and a few cases of migrant labourers calling for immediate assistance, on these numbers.
