Like many others, barbers in the district are facing distress due to lockdown and subsequent restrictions in the wake of Covid-19. The saloons have been shut down since March 22.
The barber’s duty assumes significance as the barber will have to touch his customers while shaving, cutting and trimming of hair. The barber will have to come very close to his customer’s face while performing these tasks. Since, there will be very close contact, the permission has not been granted to the barbers to resume operations.
As per the data, there are over 1000 saloons in the district which are sources of primary income for 2,500 families. As the saloons have been shut down for over three weeks, these families are now feeling the heat due to lack of income.
Each barber would earn around Rs 500 per day and each of them has suffered losses of over Rs 4000 since March 22. About three workers are employed in each saloon in urban areas. These labourers would share half of their earning with their owners. Even these labourers have been worst-hit now.
According to some labourers, owners and labourers are borrowing money from others to run their families. Some of them are engaged in the sales of fruits and vegetables to earn some money. In rural areas, wives of labourers are going to work so that they can support their husbands in managing the families.
Though there are offers to barbers to visit houses, they are hesitating to take up the tasks considering the infection of novel coronavirus. Some of them visited the houses, but were caught by the police and received punishment too, they said.
“There are 11 members in my family. It is now tough for me to manage the affairs. We would earn around Rs 600 daily. Situation has gone out of control after closure of the saloon. We have received grains from the government and we are managing the show using those grains,” Chandu, the owner of Metro Saloon on B B Road narrated his difficulty.
Murali, a resident of Chelur, was employed at a saloon in Chikkaballapur.
“I haven’t earned a penny since March 22. I will have to be ready for the worse if the same situation continues,” he says.
Nataraj, president, Savitha Samaja, Chikkaballapur taluk unit, said that members of the Samaj have been considered as workers in the unorganized sector. The workers aren’t getting any benefits. The government is paying Rs 2,000 to construction labourers. The same facility should be extended to the Samaj members. Situation will be worse if the government doesn’t help.