VIJAYAPURA: It’s the harvest season, and travelling on NH-218 between Vijayapura and Solapur, it’s common to see thousands of families from Maharashtra travelling in tractors, bound for the rural areas of Bagalkot, Belagavi and Vijayapura, to work in sugarcane fields. They will work here on contract basis for the next six months. Every year, at least 2,500 families migrate from Beed, Latur, Satara and Usmanabad districts of Maharashtra.
But this year, as Covid-19 cases surge in both states, the situation is different. Neither have they undergone a Covid test before leaving their home districts, nor are they tested as they enter Karnataka. This has left local authorities in a tizzy.Subash Tiade, from Kendrewadi village of Beed district told TNIE, “We have been working here since two decades. We work for six months -- between October and March -- and return to our hometowns. At least 50 families from our village are heading to the cane fields in Saundatti taluk of Belagavi.”
Covid is no deterrent, as the workers are in a financial crisis, having been jobless since the lockdown in March-end. Ashok K, of Dhorwadi village in Beed, said, “The fear of the virus is there but we have no option but to migrate. The factories have assured us they will take care of medical expenses. We have not undergone any test before leaving our hometown.”
Dr Shashikanth V M, District Health Officer of Belagavi, told TNIE, “It is a serious issue because the rural areas in Maharashtra are more vulnerable. We will call a meeting of sugar factory managements, and instruct them to mandatorily make migrant labourers undergo Covid tests. We will also coordinate with taluk-level officers to make all labourers take the test.”
With harvesting likely to start in a week or two, the workers are contacting agents who will send them to sugar factories on contract basis. Demand for workers from Maharashtra is high, simply because they are cheap labour, compared to locals. Factories pay them Rs 1 lakh (per family, mostly a couple) for six months, against local labourers who demand between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 1.75 lakh as wages for the same period. Migrant labourers can be found at Jamkhandi, Mudhol and Bilagi in Bagalkot, Saundatti, Gokak, Athani, Chikkodi and Kittur in Belagavi, and Indi, Sindagi and Muddebihal in Vijayapura.
Raju Kathewadi, an agent from Beed district, said, “We draw up contracts with sugar factories, assuring them of labourers during the harvest season. Each family gets Rs 1 lakh for six months. We have not received any intimation about the mandatory Covid test for labourers. If it is mandatory, sugar factories will take care of the expenses.” Raju is bringing at least 100 families to work in Belagavi.