People whose jobs won't resume anytime soon are returning to their hometowns (File)
While migrants labourers are leaving Mumbai in hordes, many who had better jobs are also leaving the city as they don't expect their jobs to resume any time soon. Mumbai's entertainment industry provides lakhs of jobs but with no opportunities now, many who were employed as set decorators, set assistants and make up assistants are leaving Mumbai. These are people with steady jobs but they are also going back as they've run out of funds due to the lockdown over coronavirus.
"We don't know when we will get a train. The police told me my train was going to depart today and I have come here. I don't know when the train will depart," Jitendra Mourya a worker returning to Uttar Pradesh said.
"There is no work here. What do we do? We will go back to our homes and live and die with our family members," Aman Singh, a set assistant told NDTV.
Aman had come to Mumbai to chase his dreams. Mumbai's film industry was the place where people like Aman found those jobs. Despondent and unemployed, he is now headed back to Uttar Pradesh's Mau district where his parents still live.
"What is there in Mumbai? We have films, we have the sea, we have export and import and that's how labourers here earn and live. We earn and we feed our families. When there is no work, how will we feed our families? If we don't have food, what's the point of staying here? All the poor people here are leaving because there is no income," Aman tells NDTV.
When asked why people like him chose Mumbai, he says, "If we had income in UP there was no question of coming here. We will fulfill our dreams later. We came here because we have mouths to feed. And that is now a struggle," he told NDTV.
Aman Singh says he spent all his meagre savings and was forced to borrow from his folks back home. "I was running the household by borrowing. I did not have a bank balance. I had to borrow from my brother, my father and my mother. This was how we were surviving here," he said.
Talking about his journey back home to Uttar Pradesh he says he hopes there will be some food and water available. "We even spent money on the bus tickets. Those who boarded the bus had to pay for the bus tickets. We paid Rs 20 for each bus ticket. We don't have money and if we're asked to pay for train tickets we will have no money when we reach home."
On the issue of people like him returning to Mumbai, Aman Singh said, "I don't feel like coming back. If I find a job there I won't come back. If I don't I will have to come back. It's about the stomach. We can't go hungry. If I don't find a job I'll have to come back."
Mumbai has reported a total of 35,485 cases with 25,694 still active. Mumbai has also reported 1,135 deaths and the lockdown is unlikely to be lifted in the coming few days. 8,650 patients have recovered in the city and on Thursday the city reported 1,467 new cases and 38 deaths. Maharashtra reported 2,598 new cases and 85 deaths on Thursday.