KARUR: Better wages in Tamil Nadu have drawn workers from northern states for jobs in construction and manufacturing. Now, such migrants are finding employment in Tamil Nadu as farm labourers too.
Farmers at Pillapalayam Panchayat in Karur district have recently engaged 50 people from Bihar and West Bengal to do paddy transplantation work in their fields.
Bavuva, who arranged the job for the workers, said there was no work for them in their home states right now and wages in Tamil Nadu are higher.
“Fifty of us have come here for farm works and will stay for two months. We have done such work in Andhra and Karnataka,” he said.
Inbaraj, who owns four acres of land, said workers from West Bengal and Bihar are hardworking and very fast.
Farmers said they spent less on them. “We pay them what we paid local workers — `3,000 to `4,000 per acre. But, we don’t need to provide them with food, tea and snacks as we do for local workers,” he said.