Hospitality sector opens arms for its old hands

Barely 30% of workers from other states have returned, say restaurateurs

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit every sector and uncertainty still dogs the revival of some of them which are mainly dependent on migrant labour force.

In Visakhapatnam two sectors — construction and hospitality — are heavily dependent on migrant work force. It is estimated that there are over 50,000 people from other States such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal working in the hospitality sector here. Immediately after Lockdown-1 when the Union government resumed partial operation of trains and buses, over 45,000 migrant workers left the city for their native places and many are yet to return.

According to Mr. Seshagiri Mantri, who owns a chain of restaurants in the city, the migrants comprise about 70% of the workforce in the sector and barely about 30% have returned so far.

The restaurant business opened up about two weeks ago but the sales are yet to pick up as still not many people are willing to eat out. The hotels are also waiting for the labour force to return to start their operations at full scale, he says.

Transportation issues

With train and bus services not fully operational yet, lack of transportation is one main thing that is still keeping the labour force away. "We have just one or two trains coming to Visakhapatnam from Kolkata and no bus service. We are returning in phases and in the next couple of months all of us will be back. Without work and pay we have been through a rough patch in the past six months and want to join back duty as early as possible," narrates Santosh Yadav, who works as a cook in a restaurant here.

"Many workers are taking the trains wherever they are available and for others we are trying to arrange some transport to bring them back," explains Mr. Seshagiri.

Not much impact

For the construction sector in Visakhapatnam, things are not that bad as most of the labour force is from Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts.

In other sectors such as IT and pharma, the percentage of migrant force is minimal or they are from neighbouring districts. And many of them have stayed back.

It is estimated that it may take at least a couple of months for the workers to come back in full strength.

Source: Read Full Article