A group of 30 workers from Bengal stuck in Nashik, Maharashtra, have been sharing two makeshift tin rooms and surviving on bare minimum food since the start of the countrywide lockdown .

A few in the group are from the North 24-Parganas part of the Sunderbans, while most others are from the Gosaba block in the South-24 Parganas part of the Sunderbans. They were working on a highway construction between Nashik and Mumbai.

Desperate to return home, they have appealed to the Bengal government for help. Many have said they have run out of money. They have accused the contractor of refusing to provide them with food till two days ago.

“We were eating one meal a day because we had run out of money. We had hoped the lockdown would be lifted after April 14 and we would either get back to work or return home,” Biswajit Roy, one of the 30 workers, told Metro over phone on Wednesday.

The contractor started providing them with basic food twice a day from Tuesday, Roy said. A Left trade union gave them potatoes and rice on Wednesday.

Roy said they had joined work between January and February. “We received payments till March 15 and had sent the money back home. Work stopped after March 15 because of the coronavirus. There has been no payment since as we work as daily labourers.”

On Tuesday, thousands of migrant workers in Mumbai's Bandra and Gujarat's Surat had staged agitations, demanding transport back home. This followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of extending the countrywide lockdown till May 3.

“We want to go home,” Nani Biswas, 38. said. He has a son and wife at home. Biswas, who was previously engaged in a construction project in Andhra Pradesh, said skilled workers earned between Rs 8,000 and Rs 12,000, depending on the extra hours they could manage.

Unskilled labourers get between Rs 3,500 and Rs 6,000, another worker said.

Workers used to get Rs 200-300 a week to buy essential items, or get a haircut, Sarkar, who has a wife, son and elderly mother back home in the Sunderbans, said.

“Our last month's wage has not been deposited as the company said there were problems because of the lockdown…. Now, the contractor has promised to provide us with food.”

Several among the workers said they were marginal farmers and owned small plots back home in the Sunderbans. The paddy and vegetable grown on their lands are inadequate to feed their families through the year, they said.

One of the workers said his friends from other blocks of the Sunderbans were stuck in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. “We speak to them over phone. They are facing problems of getting food.”