It was half past noon and Seenu, a young labourer and two of his colleagues chatting beneath the shade of a tree at the Koyambedu market here, one of largest in the country for vegetables, flowers and fruits, decide to call it a day and go home.
"There is not much work these days. Our earnings have taken a hit as the arrival of trucks carrying supplies is diminishing each day," said Seenu adjusting his 'lungi' cloth piece that served as a mask.
Toughened physically by hard work, the labourers at the market here are raring to go, but with arrivals dwindling due to COVID-19 curbs, their work has shrunk leaving them a worried lot.
The Koyambedu market, spread over 295 acres became functional during the first tenure (1991-96) of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and it has 3,000 plus vegetable, fruit and flower shops and is one of the biggest in India for perishable commodities.
"To unload (from trucks) and deliver (at shops) a bag of 100 cocounts we get Rs 15 and the rate changes according to the commodity. But the arrivals, be it vegetables or fruits, have dipped by more than half," Seenu, the more articulate among the three told P T I.
Normally, they used to earn wages ranging between Rs 700 to Rs 1,000 and sometimes upto Rs 1,500 "on a good day," he said adding these days "we have to be happy even if we get Rs 500 a day."
Pointing to some from the market too testing positive for coronavirus, he said "we don't know to what extent this development will have an impact on our work...but a growing concern is real."
Putting up a brave front, his friend Siva pitched in saying "adequate work or not and notwithstanding factors like people getting infected here, we will continue our work against all odds as market is our home."
Chandran, however, said the wages have "actually been doubled since only about 20 per cent of the labour force is now available...instead of Rs 15 a bag (before the outbreak of coronavirus) we now pay Rs 30."
Another dealer said as conferences and big ticket buffets were a "thing of the past," in star hotels in addition to closure of "regular dine-in business in restaurants," the demand for both fruits and vegetables have "naturally taken a hit."
"We keep telling people that we are careful and follow physical distancing, hygiene and cook our own food," the Gujarati driver said adding "we have to move on battling this perception."
M Manigandan, who arrived with a seven tonne consignment of plantain from Kulithalai in Karur district, said "while returning I take my truck empty since there are no consignments and this is eating into our meagre profits."
During pre-coronavirus pandemic times, he said they used to get "some cargo on our home bound trip too."