Skilled agri workers from WB in high demand at Ranipet

RANIPET: Agricultural workers from West Bengal are in high demand for the forthcoming samba season, according to sources in Ranipet district’s Nemili taluk.

These migrant labourers have been impressive with their excellent skills and their expertise in transplanting paddy seedlings from nurseries to the main field. They had been working on fields in Panapakkam, Siruvalayam, Peruvalayam and Karunavur villages.

Two teams, each consisting of 16 and 13 members, of both sexes work from 6 am to 6 pm despite suffering from mud sores. But now they have decided to return to their native.

“Though we took them to doctors at Panapakkam and successfully treated them, they decided to head back home,” said a Siruvalayam farmer and Tamilaga Vivasayigal Sangam youth wing state president R Subash.

The 16-member team had left first followed by the second team. The mud sores caused due to extended work durations was one of the reasons for their return, said the farmer.

Asked if local women, who alone undertake transplanting work also suffered similarly, Arumugam another farmer said, “local women did not suffer as their hands were not in contact with mud for long periods.

They work for specific duration and hence they have never suffered thus.” One more team is still working in nearby Damal village in neighbouring Kancheepuram district, Subash said.

“Both the teams that departed had covered more than 200 acres and though we entreated them to complete another 25 acres they refused and left,” he added. The language barrier was also a reason why the teams worked well as they did not interact with locals.

However, their work has resulted in local farmers already contacting agents to get more from West Bengal for the ensuing samba season.“We will need at least five teams of 16 members each as then the 80-odd workers can cover nearly 500 acres,” Subash said.

“That they work well and do not demand much is the reason why they are much sought after now,” he added.