TIRUCHY: It would be hard to believe that about 150 young graduates are toiling as bullock cart workers in the sand quarry on Cauvery river at Sarkkarpalayam near Tiruchy. Adding to the surprise, 30 of them are engineering graduates.
Frustrated after repeated attempts to find a suitable job, these youth have taken up riding bullock carts, considering their families’ financial situation.
A total of 500 bullock cart workers have registered with the CITU in Tiruchy and most of them are youngsters within the age of 30 years.
There is a common perception that bullock cart workers are illiterates but that is not true here. Holding engineering degrees, UG and PG degress in science and arts streams, these men are busy loading sand onto their carts.
S Mohan, in-charge of the Sarkarpalayam bullock cart sand mining quarry, said, “This is the only such mining quarry in the district and so we have around 500 bullock carts. About 300 carts are operated by youngsters, of which around 150 are graduates. Due to unemployment, these youngsters have followed their fathers into the job to eke out an living.”
M Anand, an electrical and communication engineering graduate, said: “As I was not selected in the campus interview, I joined lakhs of other young unemployed engineering graduates who are unemployed. Because of my family’s financial status, I did small jobs to support them. Recently, as the Sarkarpalayam quarry had reopened, I got into sand mining using my father’s bullock cart. Though I am able to make around Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 per day, I have to spend about Rs 500 for the bulls.”
B.Com graduate D Suresh, who is 21, said, “We have to wake up early and take our bullock cart to the quarry. Delivery of sand would finish before 11 am, and after that, I have to take the bulls for grazing. This is my routine.” Suresh’s father is an agricultural worker.
A Saravanan of Sarkarpalayam, a diploma holder in mechanical engineering, too narrates a similar tale. He said he failed to find a job despite numerous attempts. He came here after learning of the reopening of the quarry.
But the youth said they have not given up on finding a suitable job. Some have registered with job portals. “If we get opportunities according to our educational qualification, we will leave this job,” they assert.