It’s the plain truth. And it’s about outsiders. Or migrants. The folks who bore the brunt of a lot of barbs. When they left for their homes in villages across the country, some were actually relived. But as the season starts and businesses open, the truth is coming home. The outside work force isn’t coming home.To the homes and work places of Goans that isNupura Hautamaki who was involved with several others in helping people leave Goa said it was not an easy question to answer. She said “A very large number of people left and it can be easily said an equal number has not returned. People have returned from Karnataka but from places like Bengal certainly not. It seems the government MGREGA scheme in UP has made many people stay back. In the case of other states, if the employer is willing to fly them in, then they are willing to come back. You have to remember the mandates in the various states differ. There seems to be no desperation to come back.” She said there were several anecdotal pieces of evidence like the case of the employee from Kerala whose travel by bus was paid for by his employer in Goa. Nupura said she had not received calls from anyone in Orissa or Tamil Nadu or Kerala. She said “I am just one person and it would be not right to come to conclusions based on this one conversation but you can see sense the people have not returned to Goa. Restaurants are struggling without helpers or cleaners and several households are struggling without maids. The long term effects are being felt now.”
Miriam Koshy who was also involved in the effort to help a large number of workers leave Goa said a month ago a group of 20 from Bengal came in but otherwise no one else had called her. She said, “I can safely say that there is a huge shortage of maids in the state which is causing problems in several families in the state”. The tourism industry needs staff to man the various functions. Nilesh Shah, President TTAG said, “Many people have not returned. Many of the hotels have not opened. Officially we have 4000 hotels but only 27,000 rooms have started which is way short of our full capacity”. He said since many hotels had not opened, there was a paucity of jobs especially for blue-collar workers. Nilesh said “It is quite possible once the decision is taken to open the hotels, these workers will be called. People in smaller hotels have realised losses will be much less if they keep it closed. Even the shacks that are operating are at minimum capacity. All the sectors of the tourism industry are affected. Many of them may even decide to stay at home and seek employment or work in the fields. People who want to recruit are not getting staff. People from Orissa, UP, Bihar, and Nepal are not coming back. I hope the situation improves. I was interacting with people from MP and they said the daily wages in Goa were good where it was possible to earn up to Rs 800 a day which worked out to a decent sum at the end of the month. I strongly feel people will return the quality of life here is so much better and the opportunities are so many. Let’s hope for the best”. Serrafin Cotta President of Medium and Small Hotels said “The workforce has not returned, people are managing with what they have. Some are coming by flight with tickets paid by the owners. In the north, 50 percent of small and medium hotels are open because of the domestic clientele while in the south 95 percent are shut. The hotels in the north are also helped by the fact a large number of non-Goans live who work in these establishments and they did not leave. Quite a few of the second homes were also operational because they needed just one staff who would sometimes stay there or in other cases needed no staff at all.” Victor Soares Sr GM of an international branded hotel said it was important to take care of people in the good as well as the bad times which would then make them want to stick with you. Advice perhaps everyone could follow. One can only hope the people who left return once the situation improves because the state requires them.
