Many migrants prefer to stay back in Kerala, while many wish to return

Lekhak Besboruah hailing from Dibrugarh district in Assam was busy supplying fish at a supermarket in Kochi on Thursday, while Rajendra Naik from Kandhamal in Odisha, who works with a plywood factory at Perumbavoor on the rural parts of Ernakulam district, is now working with the helpline for migrant workers at Ernakulam district collectorate.

With lockdown norms being relaxed and shops resuming operations, many migrant workers in Kerala have resumed their earlier jobs as they prefer to stay back.

A recent study by Odisha-based community development organisaiton Gram Vikas and Kerala-based NGO, Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development (CMID), among the migrant workers from Odisha in different states found that even as around 75 per cent migrant workers want to return to their native places owing to lockdown, over 40 per cent plans to return in three to six months time. Over ten percent wished to stay back at workplace itself. About 45 percent of migrant workers from Odisha are in Kerala.

Of the around four lakh migrant workers in over 20,000 labour camps in Kerala, so far 42,230 returned to their native places, the maximum being to Bihar, 11,157.

Rosid Ahammed from Hojai in Assam, who is working at a vegetable shop in Ernakulam district, told DH over phone that at least 75 percent of the migrant workers, including Assamese, now want to go to native places. No trains were operated from Kerala to Assam so far and hence, they were unable to go. But most of them might return to Kerala after sometime owing to the lucrative job scenario, said Rosid, who prefers to stay back.

CMID executive director Mr. Benoy Peter said that the present urge of migrants to return to native places was mainly an emotionally charged desire. The ensuing monsoon season could also be a cause for concern for migrants as Kerala suffered calamities during the last two monsoons. But owing to the financial distress of their families in native places as well as the attractive job scenario in Kerala, many would be possibly returning to Kerala in due course. Average monthly earning of a migrant worker in Kerala is around Rs. 15,000.

About 50 percent migrants in Kerala are working in shops and other establishments, while the remaining were footloose labourers who used to involve in daily casual jobs. It was the footloose workers who were hardly hit by the lockdown as they were unable to get jobs even as the lockdown was being relaxed.

Owing to the unavailability of enough trains, many were even pooling huge amounts to hire buses and return to native places frantically especially since Kerala was witnessing further spike in COVID cases now, said Rosid.