Lockdown repercussions: Inflation and growing fears of unrest.

FAISALABAD -- Daily wagers and labourers suffer in the aftermath of the government's health emergency lockdown.

Local area workers as well as those hailing from the outskirts of the district face problems as lack of work mars their days.

Thousands of labourers who arrive in Ghanta Ghar Chowk, Jattan Wala Chowk, Narawala Road Pakistani Chowk, Peoples Colony, Qadirabad Chowk and along the main highways of the city for work are in a dire state.

In the absence of administrative strategies to provide ration to working class at their homes, hungry labourers are waiting for a miracle to ease their hardships.

Plagued by hunger, they await the administration to develop a road map to provide them the means to satiate their hunger. So far, philanthropists, members of parliament and district administration have failed to provide them with food supplies.

The Express Tribune asked Akram, a labourer sat at a sidewalk near Ghanta Ghar Chowk, as to why he was sitting there despite a lockdown, he replied, 'During normal days, we earn around six to seven thousand rupees after working for a week and now that we are out of work we cannot provide for our families.'

'We generally need nearly Rs6,000 a week, how will we manage to live on monthly Rs3,000 [package announced by Prime Minister]?' he questioned.

Muhammad Arshad, a construction worker who used to earn Rs1,300 daily wage, said he came to the city after traveling nearly 42 kilometres in search of livelihood but has failed to secure a job since a week.

'I cannot go back to my town as I have no money to go back.'

A power loom worker, Ghulam Shabbir, said he was laid off 10 days ago after the factory at Jhang Road witnessed a slump in business.

'The factory owner threatened me with police detention when I asked him to pay off my balance,' his voice broke down while speaking.

To add to the misery, the charitable wagon delivering daily meals to the underprivileged has been forbidden to continue operations, a daily wager Rehmat told The Express Tribune, adding that the police deputed at the clock tower scolds labourers and orders them to disperse.

A resident of Raja Colony said he earned Rs1,500 per day through masonry projects during the good times. Anwar...