TIRUVALLA: Payippad, where thousands of migrant workers come onto the street flouting the Covid-19 lockdown on Sunday demanding travel arrangements to let them go back to their home states, straddles Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts.
The town, which is 25km from Kottayam town and 32km from Pathanamthitta, has been a hub of migrant labourers for the last 12 years. They are mainly employed by the construction sector, but a large number of them are unregistered workers who work at sites in Changanassery, Tiruvalla and Mallappally areas. Mostly from West Bengal and Assam, they live in several camps. There have been several run-ins between them and local residents in the past too, especially because of the waste dumping from these camps.
The Kottayam district collector had ordered officials to shut down three unauthorised labour camps in the area in 2015 following complaints of waste dumping, small-time thefts and trespassing into private compounds. Local people had also protested against waste dumping on the Nalukodi-Payippad road in 2017. However, their number has been increasing year after year.
Migrant labourers are the major customers of mobile shops, hotels, provision and textile shops in the area. Several local people had filed complaints at the Thrikkodithanam police station regarding the nuisance caused by inmates of unauthorised labour camps. According to rough estimates, more than 10,000 labourers are concentrated in and around Payippad junction. Some labour camps are in Pathanamthitta district and some others in Kottayam district.Even after announcing the shutdown, the migrants used to gather at Payippad junction, which is on the border of Thrikkodithanam and Tiruvalla police station limits.
K A Asharaf Kutty, member of the Vyapari Vyavasayi Samiti, had highlighted some “irresponsible activities” of migrant labourers, including crowding by up to 200 people in the junction despite the lockdown, through the social media account of the Kottayam collector on March 24. Following this, Thrikkodithanam police intervened and tried to control the gathering of migrant labours.
Local residents and sources in the police say some communal elements had instigated the workers to stage the public protest. Local residents said fake messages spread through the social media that the government would arrange transportation to their native places if they staged a protest and if the same came to the limelight was the main reason for the sudden protest.