As guns boom, workers from Telangana stand by Israeli soldiers

HYDERABAD: While people from Telangana in Israel have had no work over the last week, they are dipping into their meagre savings to contribute food for Israeli soldiers. Many of them have given dry fruits and tinned food.
"How can we be indifferent to the Israeli soldiers who are engaged in a war to protect their country? After all, we earn our livelihood here and the only way we can show our solidarity is by contributing something for the soldiers or victims of the attacks by Hamas," said Mahesh Merugu from Jagtial, who has been working in Israel for the last 15 years.

After the war began a week ago, some organisations in Tel Aviv collected donations from citizens in whichever form they could give for the soldiers and victims of war. "We provided dry fruits and chips and other food items," said 38-year-old Merugu from Tel Aviv.
There is a 600-member Telangana community in Tel Aviv mostly engaged in work as caregivers and as workers in super markets and malls.
A couple of workers from Telangana were said to be in Ashkelon bordering Gaza which was targeted by Hamas, but they are also safe.
The Israel Telangana Association (ITA), of which Merugu is the founder, also recently made contributions to the people of Turkey when it was devastated by an earthquake.
Following the October 7 attack, Telangana workers have been staying in their flats and not going for work. This has meant a loss of wages. They have been informed by officials that they can resume normal work once the situation gets better. The workers from Telangana live in 85 flats with three of them sharing a flat.
The workers were looking forward to holding Diwali celebrations next month, but they are going slow on their plans because of the current situation.