Construction workers pitch in to maintain salt output in Thoothukudi

The curfew made several workers in the unorganized sectors to lose jobs and since salt production is exempted from it, they turned to the vocation to keep poverty at bay.

Taking advantage of the situation in the district, many construction workers have put themselves in the shoes of salt workers, S Petchimuthu, a salt producer in Thoothukudi told DT Next on Wednesday. It need not require much of skills for working in salt pans. Hence, construction workers opt to work in the salt pans.

Normally, labour shortage in salt pans is felt and it affects about 10 per cent of production annually. But this year, the COVID-19 factor has offset the labour shortage, Petchimuthu said. However, workers have been instructed to maintain social distancing rules in the pans, where one or two were allowed instead of five workers during normal time.

A jubilant K Pitchaiya, construction worker, said he was happy for the last three days now after being employed in a salt pan, which provides alternative means for earning a livelihood. While at construction work, Pitchaiya said he earned a daily wage of about Rs 600 to Rs 700. As there’s no alternative source of livelihood, job at salt pan became the most sought after one for him. He could earn above Rs 300 a day for working fiver hours, he said. “Since construction work has been stymied by the curfew enforcement for nearly a month, I struggled to earn a wage. Now, for the time-being I could manage my family with the wages earned at the salt pan,” he added.

However, in some of the salt pans, production has been slowed down by about 30 per cent since workers, who reside at far off places in Thoothukudi district, could hardly reach the pans owing to lockdown restrictions, ARAS Dhanabalan, a salt producer from the district said.