Ground Report: How UP’s Old, Daily-Wagers are Coping With Lockdown

We bring you ground reports from Ayodhya, Muzaffarnagar and Unnao to check how the most vulnerable are coping with the pan-India lockdown.

(Illustration: Arnica Kala/The Quint)

Editor: Vivek Gupta

Within hours of PM Modi announcing a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus on 24 March, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath issued multiple tweets asking people not to step out even for essential supplies like milk, food or medicines. He claimed 10,000 vehicles would deliver these items to UP's population, which is about 20 crore, which amounts to one vehicle for every 20,000 people. The Quint brings you ground reports from Ayodhya, Muzaffarnagar and Unnao, where we checked if the government is living up to its promises to the most vulnerable – the old, daily wage workers and the poor.

The elderly, many of whom are sick and can no longer work, rely on their kids to survive. These include Sudha and Shagunchand from Muzaffarnagar, who are in their sixties, as well as Laxmi lives with her husband who is immobile. Nanhi, a 65-year-old woman from Unnao, told us that because there is no daily wage work anymore, she does not know where she will get her food and ration from.

Similarly, daily wage labourers are struggling to survive. Dinesh stepped out for work in Ayodhya, out of desperation, even after the lockdown was announced but found nothing. Mukesh from Ayodhya is struggling to feed his kids.

“The difficulty is that markets are closed and kids are starving. We are unable to get rice or flour. There are no arrangements for food either. The trains have been stopped, so we are not able to go anywhere. Kids are hungry. When we went to buy things, we saw that they have become very expensive. What solution can be provided so that at least my kids can eat?” he asks.

The UP administration has announced helpline numbers for various districts, so we asked these people if they knew of it and none of them did. The one person who was aware of the number said that it turned out to be invalid. A call by The Quint to these helpline numbers showed that they were either busy or switched off.

Now while the government is struggling to reach out to the most vulnerable, they’ll have to do a lot more to reach out to the poor and the daily wage workers who don’t have the money they would have been able to earn if not for this lockdown.