Angarika Guha is a member of Maraa, a media and arts collective based in Bengaluru. The team has been working on multiple projects related to migrant workers.
Often 12-20 workers are crammed into a 10×10 ft room or even smaller. The rooms are poorly ventilated, and there’s only toilet for over a hundred people in many labour colonies.
About two weeks ago, BBMP officials surveyed around 1000 migrant workers stranded in Mahadevapura and Doddagubbi. But they have since been unresponsive as workers desperately wait for food.
Despite initiatives for food supply, large numbers of migrant workers in Bengaluru remain hungry during the lockdown. You can document these workers, either to pass on their information to ward officials, or to supply food directly.
Authorities have stubbornly refused to acknowledge the number of migrant workers in Bengaluru. Despite multiple surveys of workers, food supply has been erratic. Even when food is distributed, it could be unfit for consumption.