Hurriedly finishing his lunch close to his workplace in the Industrial Model Township here on Wednesday, Ravi Kishan, 28, does not want to talk about COVID-19.
Working as a checker at Richa Global, a garments firm, Ravi said messages on social media and the news of deaths across the globe has frightened him out of his wits. “Not just me, but most of the workers here are living under fear. Not very far away from here, a company was apparently locked down two days ago after a suspected COVID-19 case was detected. I would prefer to go back home in Bihar, but I need to work as well to earn my living. I have little choice,” said Ravi, echoing the predominant sentiment of the workers class here.
The company’s record keeper Ajay said that only 280 operators (tailors) had reported back to work out of the 365, as many chose to stay back in view of the virus scare. Ajay said there were rumours of shut down, but there has been no confirmation. He, though, claimed that the company had taken several preventive measures such as installation of sanitisers, checking body temperature of the workers and distributing masks.
Mohammad Ali, 40, a worker, however, said masks were distributed only a day ago and were not of satisfactory quality.
Biometric attendance
Assistant Merchandiser, Richa and Company, Pradeep, said the workers travelled from across NCR, mostly taking public transport. “This makes me feel unsafe coming to work. The workers in our company still mark their attendance through biometrics,” he said.
Wasim, hailing from Bihar, said the workers were not subjected to body temperature check-ups, and the leave was not granted even in case of illness.
Working at Denso International India Private Limited, an auto parts company, Naresh Kumar said that around 20%-30% employees, mostly in management, in the company were from Japan and around 4,000 workers stood at very close distance to work. “We at factories are at greater risk than schools and colleges. It is crowded everywhere inside the premises,” he said.
His colleague, Ramprakash said that a vast majority of the workers in IMT was contractual and could not afford to stay at home for long without earning and the factory owners were not likely to grant them paid leaves. “We know we are at risk, but have no choice but to work,” said Ramprakash.
Bellsonica Auto Component India Private Limited employees union vice-president Ajit Saini demanded that all factories should be shut and the workers granted paid leaves. “When the colleges, schools and cinema halls have been shut to prevent mass gatherings, the same logic applies to the factories as well,” he said, adding that a large number of foreigners frequented the firms in the IMT and are allowed to enter without any check-ups.
Deputy Commissioner Amit Khatri, said the manufacturing industries were told to adhere to social distancing norms as per the directives of Union and State governments. He said the advisory issued to companies to allow their staff to work from home “also applied to manufacturing industries”. On some firms still allowing biometric attendance, Mr. Khatri said the administration would reach out to them to ensure required measures were taken.
