Mission Wyrai writes to CM over plight of daily wage earners

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaAugust 3, 2020

The Mission Wyrai has sought the intervention of the Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma into the plight faced by daily wage earners due to non-availability of bus services.  

In a letter to Sangma, the Mission Coordinator Dr Omarlin Kyndiah suggested that the government start to and fro special bus services from the outskirts of Shillong.

According to him, the social distancing measures can be followed and there can be fixed timings for such bus services.

“This would help the daily and weekly wage workers whose incomes have fallen by 50-70 percent as compared to pre coronavirus days. We request your honour to kindly consider the matter with capacity restrictions and in accordance with distancing norms and health protocol in view of the hardship and emotional stress faced by the less privileged section of the society,” Dr Kyndiah said.

Dr Kyndiah informed that there are a number of daily wage earners who work in Shillong but stay in the suburbs of Shillong like Sohryngkham, Umphyrnai, Nongkrem, Smit, Mawpdang, Tynring, Mawkasiang, Sadew, Baniun, Mylliem etc.

Before the pandemic, they would all use the bus services to commute to their workplace, he said adding with the lockdown has been lifted and these sections of the society have started with their daily work, there are issues facing the welfare of the daily wagers’.

Because the only permitted means of commute are taxi services, they have to rely on them completely. Of course to maintain social distancing, the taxi fares have been hiked and the charges are unreasonably high for daily wage workers.

“We recently happened to speak to a number of daily wage workers especially women and some of them single parents, who said they earn 250 rupees a day of which they spend on the average Rs.140 on taxi fare. So their net income is Rs.110 instead of Rs. 220 (if bus services were available),” he said.