SAMIR UMAYE
BICHOLIM: Sajulo Gaonkar left school when he was in class V, while Devgo and Anant studied till class VIII and like most of other youths of Maulinguem village they joined the Nestle factory hoping the salary would help them sustain their families.
But on Tuesday they, along with 300 others from Van-Maulinguem-Kudchirem panchayat, found themselves laid off work, after the government’s ban on Maggi noodles in the state. The fear now is that not only will this affect their finances, but many youths might remain unmarried with no girl willing to accept a marriage proposal from a jobless lad.
“Who will give us a bride when we are unemployed?” asked Sajulo who after working in the factory for four years is now unemployed.
“All the youths who are now unemployed are in the age group of 20-30 years and if they do not have any work no one will consider their proposal for marriage,” Sajulo said. “We were totally dependent on the factory and now with this issue our families will have to starve,” he added.
Almost everyone from Sajulo’s family was employed with Nestle and now that the factory has asked all to stop coming to work, uncertainty looms over the family. “Most of the youths who were working on contract were unskilled and have studied not beyond class VIII. Now that we do not have any work we don’t know how we will survive,” Sajulo lamented.
Over 50 percent of the residents of Maulinguem were employed with Nestle and have no other source of income.
Anant Gaonkar (22) from the village said, “Recently the factory had increased the daily wages by Rs 45 and we were getting about Rs 335 per day. As we had three members from our family employed with the factory, this income was sufficient for us.”
“If this continues there will be much unemployment in Bicholim as the worst to be affected by this deadlock will be locals from this panchayat and being unskilled no other company will given them a job. It is a major problem facing the village and the government should take steps so that further damage is avoided,” Anant said.
Van-Maulinguem-Kudchirem sarpanch Madhu Naik expressed concern over the situation and said, “There will be a minimum of 200 families dependent upon this company in our panchayat and majority of them have jobs in this factory. If this factory stops giving work to the locals then they would have no other option.”
“The way mining has affected the state, in the same way this Maggi issue will have an impact on this village. The factory is also one of the major sources of income for the panchayat and if it stops everything in the village will come to a standstill,” Naik said.
