Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Oct 14: People working in private sector are bearing the brunt of the ongoing lockdown in the Valley as hundreds of such workers have not received salaries for the last two months and around 50, 000 have been laid off.
As the companies remain shut for the last two months, hundreds of employees are passing through trying times in the Valley. All the business establishments are shut ever since 5th August. “I am sitting in my home for last two months and am facing difficulty in running my home. My savings have finished. The company has not paid the salaries. I do not know what to do,” Zahid Ahmad, a private sector employee in Srinagar, told Excelsior. He added that lack of public transport has added to the worries as he is unable to visit his workshop or attend the orders of the customers.
While some of the employees are sitting idle at their homes, others have switched to other form of business that could sustain under this lockdown. Shabir who used to work with a travel agency is now selling chestnuts. The growing financial crisis at home has made him a vendor now. “The internet continues to be remain suspended. What can we do without it? It was difficult for me to bear the expenses of my family by idling at home,” he said. While Abid took to new business, his worries cease to end as he feels the future of their kids would be worst than him.
Mohammad Junaid who earlier was a salesman at a garment shop now sells fruits on a handcart at Pathachowk By-pass to feed his family. “I have been selling fruits for last two months. As problems started aggregating at home I had no option than to sell fruits on roadsides. I buy fruits in bulk from one dealer and then tour different areas to earn money,” he said.
“The impact of lockdown cannot be reversed but I am more worried about our future. I fear the companies might wind up their business from here and that can render us jobless,” Basharat Ahmad, another employees said.
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