Jamshedpur, Aug 25: In less than 48 hours two barbers committed suicide due to financial crisis forcing the members of the community and saloon owners to protest against the lockdown.
After a barber hanged himself at Sonari, another barbar committed suicide by jumping into the Subernarekha river due to his poor financial condition caused by a ban on salons in view of the coronavirus pandemic.
A resident of Kunj Nagar in Sonari, the deceased barbar Jodhi Thakur (42) had come out of his house on Friday afternoon, after informing his wife Sarita Devi that he will be back soon. The family members first searched for the missing person throughout Friday and next morning lodged a missing person report with the Sonari police station.
On Tuesday morning, the family members got a call from the Sonari police and rushed to Ghatsila sub-divisional hospital morgue to see if a body that they have recovered from the Subernarekha river was that of Jodhi Thakur’s. �
OC, Ghatshila police station, Ravi Ranjan said the body was found floating in the Subernarekha along Amiyo Nagar in Ghatshila on Sunday afternoon.
“As we fished out the body we got a post-mortem done of the body and it was found to be a drowning case in the initial autopsy report. We had, therefore, informed Sonari police station to get it checked by the family members concerned,” said Ranjan.The deceased used to run a salon at Panchavati Nagar in Sonari and would stay at a rented house adjoining Kunj Nagar.
Meanwhile, the members of Nai Samaj on Tuesday went to the deputy commissioner�s office and demanded reopening of saloons. They are also handed over memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister.
They said that thousands of workers associated with the field had been affected by the lockdown in Jamshedpur alone, while the number rose into the millions across the State.
�The whole city has reopened but the salons are closed, which is completely unfair. We demand that the administration must allow us to operate. We will follow the norms of social distancing too,� insisted an operator. They appealed that the beauty salons and hairdressers should at least be allowed to function as several other states have allowed them to function.
Meanwhile, another salon operator pointed out that salons across the city had been closed for two and half months and workers associated with the profession were facing extreme inconvenience as they were not being paid. �Many of these workers belong to the less privileged and are the bread-earners of their families,� he added.
