Pradhan MantriAwas Yojana (PMAY) targets to provide Housing for All (H4A) by 2022. PMAY targets the poor and marginalized population but ignores the plights of migrant workers in Indian cities who are living in nightmarish conditions.
- Migrants do not have proper domicile certificate in the city that devoid them from the H4A and other beneficial schemes for ration, water, sanitation and cooking fuel.
- Poor financial conditions force these workers to stay in non-fit for living conditions like inside factory environment near the machines, below flyovers, on open space etc. They face the constant threat of eviction and confiscation of their meager assets.
- Migrant labour is the highest victims of road accidents.
- They are exposed to squalor and disease. 5) Migrant labourers work irregular and insecure jobs, involving long hours for low wages, in an unsafe workplace. Need of the hour: 1) The beneficiary of H4A should be need-based not the domicile based. A migrant spending 6-10 months of a year in the city should be included in such schemes. 2) Temporary homes with sanitation and drinking water facilities should be available throughout the year for migrants.
H4A will remain rhetoric and India's urban housing crisis will only aggravate further if the government fails to listen to the needs of the migrant population.
