Cheap labour from WB’s poor districts
With local labourers demanding high wages, Mangalore city, which is growing at a fast pace, gets cheap labourers from the backward districts of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar.
The seriousness of the issue and the possible human rights violations came to light only after 15 workers from West Bengal were rescued on Monday.
Taking note of the situation, Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samiti member Swapan Ganguly had sent a team to assess the situation in these districts.
Ganguly told Deccan Herald that migration rate from these two districts was very high mainly because of lack of employment and starvation.
“Sriram Bauri (60), a resident of Layekdi, had died of hunger on September 9. Our union sent a medical team there on September 10 to examine the health of villagers. We found 10-15 people highly malnourished in one village alone,” he said.
The Samiti learnt that 15 people were taken from the village promising them agriculture work in the neighbouring village, he added. When these people went untraceable after that, Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samiti, received an appeal for help from the families of the persons who went in search of jobs from these districts.
On investigation, it was learnt that on August, 23, 2011, Dibesh Das in Layekdi village, Lakhanpur GP, PS Hura, Purulia district, recruited 15 workers from Layekdi and Lakhanpur villages in Purulia district and Katharia village in Bankura district. He handed over the workers to another labour contractor, who in turn sent them through Sanjay Singh to Mangalore through train. Das promised the workers Rs 4,000 each per month.
“When the families asked the contractor for the whereabouts of the workers, they were threatened. The workers somehow contacted their relatives and were informed that the workers were being forced to work against their will,” said Ganguly.
He pointed out that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme had failed in these districts.
“These workers were finally provided work in September, 25 km away from their village. Many villagers sold the rice they had received as relief to pay for their transport, while others mortgaged plates and utensils,” he said.
The Samiti, in its letter to Purnendu Bose, State Labour Minister (after the 15 were rescued in Mangalore) said there were innumerable such contractors in Dishergarh and surrounding areas, who are taking labourers from Bankura and Purulia districts in violation of the Inter State Migrant Workmen’s Act. In addition, there seems to be no system of labour inspection in Mangalore, where labour laws are being flouted.
