At the camp, the families were provided with daily meals and soon, even secured temporary employment in various government offices such as Bara Bangla, sessions court, waiting rooms, Thane mental hospital, and so on.
Thane bid adieu to over 300 drought-affected families from Nanded and Latur on Sunday, after helping them with food and livelihood for two months. The families had made the district their home last month.
In February, after the scorching summer rendered their farms barren, these families first shifted to an open ground in Ghatkopar's Bhatwadi. There, they stayed in the open along with pigs and stray dogs, and without any toilet or bathing facilities. Many people took up odd jobs to make ends meet, and even had to deal with the local goons, who were demanding a share from their meagre earnings.
At that time, the Ghatkopar police and some local residents came to their help and provided some food and supplies. When Thane guardian minister Eknath Shinde got to know about the situation in April through the media, he immediately brought these homeless farmers to Thane and put them up in a camp at the MIDC grounds in Wagle Estate.
At the camp, the families were provided with daily meals and soon, even secured temporary employment in various government offices such as Bara Bangla, sessions court, waiting rooms, Thane mental hospital, and so on.
These work assignments, such as tree plantation, house-keeping of government offices, cleaning of public areas and other odd jobs, began on April 20. Men were paid Rs400 per day while women were given Rs300.
An official from Shinde's office said, "The farmers said that monsoon will begin soon and they have to undertake repairs of their homes and other work on the farms. Here, they had earned and saved enough money to want to leave for their hometowns. So we made arrangements for their travel. After a farewell lunch, they left for their villages on Sunday."
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