Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Kerala's plywood industry feels the heat of Assam polls

While the staggered election process had minimal impact on sectors like construction, which depend heavily on migrant workers, the plywood industry experienced disruptions.

Thiruvananthapuram: It is after a long gap that Thafazul who hails from Nowgong in Assam has cast his vote by taking a break from his job in Kochi in Kerala.

There are many migrant workers like him from Assam who were quite keen to cast their votes this time, which in turn has its impact on Kerala's plywood industry.  

"During 2019 I was working in Chennai and didn't turn up for voting. But this time, a major chunk of people from Assam working in Kerala travelled to Assam to cast their votes owing to the various concerns doing the rounds," Thafazul, who is also spending some time with family after the April 26 polling, told DH over phone.

Assamese constitutes the major chunk of workforce of Kerala plywood industry, which has its hub at Perumbavoor near Kochi.

Kerala Sawmill Owners and Plywood Manufacturers Association president Mujeeb Rehman said that there was a drastic fall in the workforce at the plywood manufacturing units in the state. Even the production had to be cut. Since the elections in Assam are in different phases, there is a slight relief as some employees started returning to work.

Benoy Petre, executive director of the Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development, a NGO working among the migrant workers in Kerala, said that the plywood industry of Kerala witnessed a boom following the ban on the industry in Assam in the late 1990s. Subsequently both men and machinery from Assam were brought to Kerala.

He also said that unlike previous elections more people from Assam, especially from the Muslim community, were found to be more curious in going to Assam for casting their votes. The concerns over issues like NRC, pressure from their families and even fear of being marked as doubtful voters (D voters) could be the possible reasons. As they could not go to Assam quite frequently owing to cost and time factors, most of them would prefer to spend a few weeks with their families, he said.

Even as migrant workers are the major workforce of many key sectors in Kerala like construction, the staggered election process had minimal impact in many sectors.

Thiruvananthapuram Chamber of Commerce and Industry president S N Reghuchandran Nair said that since the elections were in different phases and Kerala has migrant workers from different states, there was no major crisis in sectors like construction that depend majorly on migrant workers.