PALAKKAD: Thufan, 23, from Murshidabad in West Bengal, wears a T-shirt with ‘Palakkadan Karshaka Munnettam’ written on it as he gets ready for the day’s work at a paddy field in Kuthanur. He is one among the 200-odd workers from Murshidabad who come to Kerala every year to work at paddy fields.
Unlike other migrant labourers from north Indian states who slog at building construction sites and quarries, these male workers prefer farming as they own paddy fields back home and can earn up to Rs 1,300 per day.
“Most of these work were done by women labourers in the state, but they prefer to do MNREGA jobs. They come at 7am and go at 1pm. Besides, we would have to shell out Rs 5,000 per acre for a local labourer. Even then, the work would not be over in time as there is a severe shortage of labourers here,” said Palakkadan Karshaka Munnetam secretary Sajeesh Kuthanur.
Thufan, who owns an acre of paddy field in his native, said the payment here is decent. “I have been working in Kerala for the past few years. While we get Rs 400 a day in our state, here we are paid Rs 700. We do paddy sapling transplanting from seedbed to paddy fields for which we charge Rs 4,000 per acre. Each worker gets Rs 1,333 daily and we work from 7am to 5pm,” said Thufan.
Sajeesh admires their unity. “If a group of workers finds it tough to complete a stretch by dusk, their friends will join and share the wages. For manual jobs like removing weeds and application of fertilisers, they charge Rs 700 per day,” said Sajeesh. He owns 11 acres of paddy fields in Kuthanur, and as many acres of his relatives, other than those taken on lease.
Sunurool Sheikh, 25, also from Murshidabad, owns 50 cents of paddy fields and is a part of the workforce which stays in a tiled godown-like hall in Kuthanur on rent. “We usually have ‘Ponni’ rice meals with potato or chicken curry. After our work, we go to other parts of the district like Pattambi, Shoranur and Koottanad. We also go to Thrissur and Changarakulam where we get paid as high as Rs 800 per day,” he said.
Greener pasture
Rs 1,300 is the daily earning of migrant workers
Work schedule is from 7am to 5pm
Workers from Murshidabad in West Bengal transplant paddy saplings in a field at Kuthanur, Palakkad