KALPETTA: The Wayanad district collector has intervened in complaints related to unnatural deaths of ST youths in Kodagu plantations. The collector has ordered labour and local self- government departments to maintain a report containing the details of Wayanad-based ST people working in other states.
Collector Renuraj gave the instructions at the district-level meeting of officials. The collector’s intervention comes at a time when people from Scheduled Tribes communities who went for plantation works through agents in areas including Kodagu in Karnataka were found dead under mysterious circumstances. Recently Bineesh, 33, son of Madhavan and Sudha of Bavali ST Colony, who went for plantation work at Kodagu, was found dead near a waterbody.
The relatives were informed that he drowned in a pond. But Bineesh was found dead in a shallow stream. His family members filed a complaint to the police pointing out his unnatural death. Bineesh also went to work through an agent in Kattikulam. The Karnataka police have registered a case and started an investigation into Bineesh’s death. The family has demanded a comprehensive investigation. Karnataka Police are now investigating the case.
Different organisations like Adivasi Mahila Prasthanam and human rights activists had come forward demanding immediate action from government bodies on the issue of the disappearance and unnatural deaths of Wayanad-based ST workers in neighbouring states.
Bineesh is the fourth person to die under mysterious circumstances after going from ST colonies in Wayanad to Kodagu for agricultural work. The family members of the deceased had also complained about violation of labour laws and lack of basic facilities at places of work.
In the context of recurring unnatural deaths of ST workers in neighbouring states, the Wayanad collector instructed the officials to strictly keep a record of details of persons going for agriculture works to neighbouring states.