HYDERABAD: Many workers from Bihar and Odisha were among those affected by Monday’s explosion at Sigachi Industries in the Pashamylaram Industrial Area. Several of them shared stories of how many from their village came to Hyderabad in search of work.Mohd Zameer Alam, from Bihar’s Bhojpur district, recalled how he had helped his uncle Tasabuddin from his village secure a job at Sigachi earlier this year. Tasabuddin is now missing, and Zameer distraught. “About 50-60 people from my village are working here, with about four to five in Sigachi. We worked in three shifts. The first shift included my mother-in-law, Ruksana Kathoon, who was identified as one of the deceased,” Zameer said.He added that people from his district mostly get only low-paying and hard-to-find jobs like mason or carpenter, and that is why they migrate to places like Hyderabad, bringing their families with them. “But after such a hard journey, we are left alone in times of tragedy like this, with no support,” he said, while waiting to receive Ruksana Kathoon’s body and searching for Tasabuddin at the hospital mortuary.Debashish Sahu brought his relative Lagnajith Duari (22) from Cuttack in Odisha earlier this year to work as a machine cutting operator. Lagnajith has been confirmed dead in the incident. Just like Zameer, Sahu said many people from his district as well as from neighbouring ones have moved to Hyderabad to find jobs in factories.“There are no such jobs in our district,” said Sahu. “People hear about places like these through word of mouth. Even though parents are afraid to send their children so far, they are forced to do so because they don’t have any other choice.”
