After 70 days, employees see a ray of hope in SC order

Chennai:
Pongal is five days away but the usually busy Ranganathan street has
been sucked out of its life with anxious employees of the sealed
shopping establishments waiting eagerly for the Chennai Metropolitan
Development Authorities to deseal the shops following a Supreme Court
order on Monday.

“We have yet to get the order,” says a CMDA source as the wait gets longer.

But then there is a ray of hope among the employees who after hearing
the Supreme Court order have rushed to the shops hoping to get some
monetary help from the employers.
It has been more than two months and we have been struggling to eke
out an existence, says Ebennezer, an employee of Jayachandran Textiles
and a sole breadwinner of the family of four while awaiting the other
portion of the shop to get opened.
When queried about the Supreme Court order his eyes light up but the
fade away as he says, “We are satisfied but want the shops to be
opened permamnently,” he adds. The women workers spit venom against
the media whom they blame for causing the problem “What were you doing
when we were struggling for the last two months,” she asks.
Similarly, an employee from Saravana Stores says that they are not
satisfied with six weeks. “Is it okay to eat only for six weeks,” he
reasons, adding that the shops should be opened permanently. Pandian
from Koodankulam who works in Shanmugam Stores says telegrams have
been sent to the employees in Tirunelveli. He is satisfied that there
is some respite through SC order and hopes it will last longs.
But now the biggest challenge is to get back the workforce and the
stumbling block is the six weeks timeline. “How will I get employees
working for me when they know they will last only six weeks,”
questions Vasanthi, who owns the shop Shree Tailors. “We have been
facing huge problems after the shops were sealed. Even the wedding
dresses got struck,” she says ruing that she had lost more than five
lakhs after Annamma building was sealed.
Interestingly, the wait is getting longer for the employees as CMDA is
still awaiting the order and even if the shops open in the evening,
there may be some respite as they are back to work after 70 days.