Photo credit: Arab News
Domestic migrants in India, who often travel thousands of kilometres for work, are weighing up whether to leave New Delhi for good as energy resources choked by the Middle East war dwindle.
The Daily Mail reports that black market prices of cooking gas cylinders have soared beyond what labourers living hand-to-mouth can earn, and even if energy flows resume soon, they worry it could take weeks for the impact to filter down to them.
Crouched over smoky fires at dawn, using wood shavings to cook a breakfast of flat bread chapatis, dozens of construction workers say they are ready to return home.
“We will just leave when (the) money finishes,” said Milan Kumar Mondal, who will make the 1,100-kilometre journey home to Katihar in Bilhar state, when the last of his savings runs out.
India has more than 450 million internal migrants, according to the last census in 2011 and government estimates, forming the backbone of its informal economy.
Many move seasonally from poorer states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to cities in search of construction, factory and daily wage work.
The South Asian nation, heavily dependent on imported energy, including roughly 60 per cent of its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) needs, has seen supply chains strained by the war.
And while the government says there is no overall LPG shortage and is ensuring the most vulnerable receive cooking gas, migrants in informal settlements say they are left out.
Government rules mean a household can have only one registered LPG connection.; For domestic migrants, that is, back in their home village.
Many initially turn to firewood gathered from city forests or wood shavings from construction sites, but even the cost of that has now nearly doubled.
Electric stoves are not an option, since their power connection in tight-packed rooms is often only strong enough for a single charger.
While food stalls are unaffordable, work is uncertain in their villages. But living costs are lower, and families share expenses in the villages.
