PONDA: With around 8,000 migrant labourers booking their tickets online to go to their native place, has left the Ponda locals to ponder over their exodus.
But according to the stranded migrants during the last 40 days of lockdown period they went through a horrible experience and have faced lot of hardships with no salaries, food and no money to pay their house rent.
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With no jobs, arrival of monsoon soon and uncertainty over lockdown, the labourers want to leave the State. There was labour market at KTC bus stand, where everyday around 400 daily wage labourers were gathering, the needy people and the contractors used to take them for work, fixing the wages. However, the labour market now wore a deserted look with few workers turning in as there are no job providers.
These labourers now want to go to their native place as they are worried about their future and feels that the lockdown would not give them jobs in future. Further, they were not paid salaries during the lockdown period and so struggled to pay their house rents to the owners.
The labourers said, they also suffered due to lack of food during the lockdown period but some kind hearted people helped them by supplying the food and other essentials.
