During the monsoon and harvest seasons, the people of Mahabubnagar work as agricultural labourers in or around their home district. But in off-season, or when the crop is failing they usually migrate, seeking work on construction sites in cities
They leave their homes and villages and come to a new and alien city
Roadside shanties made from tin and plastic sheets, with the bare minimum facilities, become their temporary homes in Mumbai, until the construction work is complete
Their work involves digging, drilling, clearing debris and descending as deep as 30 feet into the ground to clear pits. All this is done without any insurance or accident cover
The labourers do these jobs for Rs. 300 a day or even less. A mukadam or supervisor, who speaks Telugu, gives them their wages and acts as a middleman, finding them work at the city’s construction sites
The women who toil at these sites speak of frequent sexual harassment at work
Their little children cannot be left alone at home, and the women are compelled to take them along. The hazardous piles of cement and concrete become the children’s playground. At times, a stray dog or two at the site or in the parking spaces below the fly-overs, become their playmates. And they fall asleep by the roadside when they tire of playing in the debris and dirt
The workers are not provided with clean drinking water, toilets or electricity at their temporary habitations
Still, the money they earn is more than what they would make back home, and it draws them to the city
