Gurugram: Jobless mason hangs himself in Aravalis

GURUGRAM: The body of Gangaram, a 40-year-old man who migrated to the city from Madhya Pradesh two years ago to work at construction sites, was found hanging from a tree in a desolate patch of the Aravalis off the Gurugram-Faridabad highway on Monday morning.
He had not been seen for a day. But unlike on previous occasions when Gangaram had tried to find a way past the city’s borders to get back to MP’s Chhatarpur, he had walked deep into Aravali terrain this time. “It is a case of suicide,” said ASI Jagdish from Sector 53 police station, adding the statement of family members had been recorded.
Without work since the lockdown, Gangaram agonised over how to sustain his family of five in Ghata, and his parents and younger brother back home in Chattarpur, according to a relative. He wanted to return to his village to cultivate land and work in other farms to earn a living.
Gangaram had set out on foot with his wife and children multiple times, hoping he would find a way. His latest attempt was last week. But police sent him back.
He was engaged as a mason at a site along the Southern Peripheral Road when the lockdown was announced. Though work stopped, he stayed on at the labour colony with his wife, two children — the youngest just three years old — and nephew. The contractor gave workers dry ration during the lockdown but it was not enough, said his nephew, Roshan.