COVID-19 Lockdown: Migrant Workers Stranded in Chennai Lodges Face Eviction

Nearly a thousand migrant workers are stranded in lodges in Chennai’s Egmore and Central area amid the nationwide lockdown which is now extended till May 3. These workers, who had sought refuge in lodges, are now left with no money for rent or food, while they face the threat of eviction.   

According to a press release by citizens’ volunteers, who have been working tirelessly to provide relief to these workers, “One cluster of 650 workers, predominantly from West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand, are stranded in 34 lodges on Kulandhai Street, Wall Tax Road and nearby streets around Central Station. Hundreds more are in lodges near Egmore.” 

The press release further highlights the Tamil Nadu government and the Greater Chennai Corporation’s apathetic attitude towards these stranded workers. After the sudden lockdown was announced, the workers, “instead of being guided to the nearest state-run accommodation, they were chased away by TN Police and ended up in the numerous lodges.”

The citizens volunteers have demanded that “the State Government should go beyond asking the lodge-owners to shoulder the entire cost of lodging for stranded workers and announce a scheme to defray the costs borne by property owners.” 

These workers also lost the money spent on train tickets for the aborted journeys back to their homes. “These workers had exhausted their meagre savings on lodge rent, and exorbitantly priced food halfway into the first phase of lockdown. Now they are crammed five workers to a small room and at the mercy of citizen groups for food, and increasingly hostile lodge owners who are threatening to disconnect electricity and water and evict them for non-payment of lodge rent,” the press release stated. 

Meanwhile, citizen volunteers and trad union activists have been trying to negotiate with the lodge owners to not evict the workers. Workers and volunteers have blamed the authorities for failing to enforce its own Government Order (G.O. (D) No. 195 of 30.03.2020 which prohibits landlords of rented accommodations from demanding rent from workers and students in their properties. 

Nityanand Jayaraman, one of the signatories of the press release, told NewsClick, "Chennai Corp may say that they have strictly instructed lodge owners. But that does not take away from the fact that the irate owners take it out on the workers by disconnecting electricity/water and threatening and abusing them. Many are fearful to even step out for food. No arrangement of food has been made, and citizen groups have been delivering cooked food for 630 people in Central area. The Corporation should either open up more shelters -- in university, school buildings and Government hostels -- and provide food and medical services to the stranded workers."

Meanwhile, “the management of one particular lodge on Kulandhai Street has taken to switching off electricity and water causing massive inconvenience to their guests, which include women and children. Other lodges have also begun taking their cues from these tactics, even as the city administration looks away,” the release stated, highlighting how the lodges are taking out their frustration on the workers who have been left in the lurch.