Service sector, driven by SIR, leaves city to fend for itself

Kolkata: From caregivers, drivers to domestic helps or maids, the service sector, spooked by SIR of electoral roll, has left many city households in the lurch as they are heading to their villages or towns in different districts to cast vote. Driven by a common fear that if they shy away from voting, their names might be struck off the roll forever, these people have taken leave from their employers to exercise their franchise.

Septuagenarian Amita Talukdar lives alone at her residence near Ranikuthi and depends on a whole-time caregiver since her mobility has been restricted owing to old-age problems. On Thursday, her caregiver set out to her village in Midnapore for voting. Unable to do her daily chores by herself, she has come to her daughter's house at Tollygunge and will have to stay there until her caregiver comes back.



"I cannot move around without assistance and when my daughter learnt that my caregiver left for voting, she took me to her home. Though the first phase of poll is over, I don't know when my caregiver is going to return. Usually, she does not seek leave. During the enumeration, too, she had to visit her village for two days. She was told by her family members that her voting right might be at stake if she did not vote. So, I let her go but her absence has put me in trouble now," Talukdar rued.

Oindrila Gooptu, a resident of Middleton Row who works in a private school off Bypass, is in a fix with both her maids — one engaged for upkeep of the house and the other for cooking — now on "election leave". "I have a tight schedule and it is difficult for me to manage both work and the household without the helps. I have been living in the city for so many years but never experienced before such scarcity of workers during polls. Though I contacted an agency for a temporary maid, they could not send anyone due to shortage of workforce," she said.

Those running agencies that supply caregivers and maids to households across the city stated that they were grappling with shortage of workforce. Bhola Dey, owner of an ayah centre at New Garia, said, "Half of my workforce is on leave. Some of the caregivers told me that if I did not allow them to take leave to vote, they would give up work. The SIR has panicked them so much that many of them are under the impression that if they do not vote, they will lose the right and be asked to leave the country." Gopa Bauri, who works in a high-rise off Bypass, said, "I manage a square meal daily by working in households. But this election is crucial as it's in the air that my citizenship will be at stake if I don't vote."
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