Why the LPG crisis is reviving pandemic fears among migrant workers
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Last week, Amazon India reported a surge in sales of ready-to-eat meals on its e-commerce platforms. A spokesperson attributed it to customers “relying on instant meals to navigate the current fuel uncertainty”.
Workers employed at the tech giant’s warehouse in Manesar, Haryana, however, are struggling to pay for meals. Hundreds of migrants from Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar work in the warehouse in the industrial town to the south of Delhi.
With cooking gas cylinders running out, many are unable to cook food in their rented homes and have instead turned to local dhabas. The eateries, facing the same shortage of gas, have raised their prices.
“In the dhabas near the warehouse, rotis that cost Rs 8 earlier are now being sold for Rs 12,” said Pawan Singh Sisodiya, general secretary of Amazon India Workers Union. “If prices keep increasing like this, workers will be forced to go back home.”
Already, there are news reports of an exodus of migrant workers from Gujarat’s textile and ceramics industries. The paucity of gas forced some industrial units, which depend on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and liquefied natural gas, to shut down. In other instances, workers decided to leave despite the availability of work because they had to go days without food.
In Delhi and surrounding areas, too, the...