Our Correspondent
Kohima, April 9 (EMN): The nationwide lockdown has hit every sector in the country, with government machineries and daily wage earners among the most affected sections.
The restriction on movement of commercial vehicles has affected the daily income of these service providers. Even though the government has initiated free relief food distribution, many have been left without means of livelihood and are exhausting meagre savings.
A daily wage earner from New Ministers’ Hill colony told Eastern Mirror that he only had INR 500 in his possession with rations that will last him hardly four more days.
He informed that he had come to Kohima from Mon last year to make a living. ‘This lockdown has greatly affected a person like me who makes a living out of daily wage earning,’ he said.
According to him, he had gone to the local ground when he heard that free ration was being distributed but could not get his share as he didn’t posses necessary document during that time. He was redirected stating that ration would be distributed in the colony but he didn’t receive any.
Also, a taxi driver said that the lockdown has adversely affected his normal life. He narrated that the lockdown has put him in a difficult situation, with his rations running out and now surviving with the aid he got from his church on Sunday.
“If this lockdown continues for more days, I am worried with what will I be eating during the lockdown period,” he said.
The effect of the lockdown is also being felt by a couple: the wife works in a hotel and the husband drives a taxi for living. The wife said that when she asked for her salary, the owner of the hotel informed her that she would be paid once the lockdown ends, adding that the same was the case with her husband.
They informed that they had stocked rations with the little savings they had, which would last them about two more weeks and maintained that even if they were to go back to their village, ‘it is impossible now to do so’.
Students are no exception. A young man, who said that he had completed his studies last year and was searching for a job, shared that he used to get by through the opportunities he got to earn daily.
“With the lockdown, I am now left with no other option for my daily needs. The other day, the colony leaders wrote names for free ration distribution. I also submitted mine but didn’t get any.”