Coimbatore: Arjun Paswan, 38, a native of Bihar, came to the district when he was 20 years old. Close to two decades later, Paswan, working with a foundry at Kurumbapalayam, feels he is one among Coimbatoreans. In the meantime, he has switched several jobs, learned new skills & Tamil, improved the financial status of his family back home, got married and become a father of two children. His children, studying in Classes V and VII at the govt school at Kurumbapalayam, are more of Tamils than Biharis. Like Paswan, scores of guest workers have made the district their home. In turn, they have become an inevitable part of much of the businesses run here.
Govt officials say the number of guest workers coming to the district have increased after the reverse migration during the Covid-19 pandemic. So far, 1.07 lakh interstate migrant workers in Coimbatore have registered on the govt portal for them - http://labour.tn.gov.in/ism - as of September 13 this year, making it the second highest in the state, with Tirupur in the first place with 1.70 lakh registrations. The data only shows the number of guest workers who have registered. The actual population of guest workers could be much more, say officials.
Ranjith, 34, of Kolkata in West Bengal, said he had been in Coimbatore for 15 years. He now works as a mason. "In our place, we don't have work for almost five months owing to rain. Here, we get year-long work. In Kolkata, they give Rs600 for a mason's work. But here we get Rs1,100 for the same job. Helpers get Rs850 here, whereas in Kolkata the payment is just Rs400."
The district has seen a significant influx of migrant workers from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, and West Bengal. Of late, there is a steady increase in the number of guest workers.
"People from northeastern states such as Assam work in the hotel industry. Those from Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh work with textile units and foundries. In Coimbatore, around 90% of foundry workers are migrants. In hotels, 20% are migrant workers and in mills 50-60% are migrants. Without migrant workers, we can't run foundry, textile, hotel and pump industries. They account for more than 40% of the workforce," said Karthikeyan, president, Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (Codissia).
V Govindaraj, programme manager, Vizhuthugal NGO, which works for the welfare of guest workers, said the lack of employment and poor wages in their home states were the main reasons why migrant workers come to Tamil Nadu, especially to Coimbatore and Tirupur.
Jagabandhu Behera, 28, of Odisha, a Class VIII dropout, said, "There are no adequate firms in Odisha to provide regular jobs. Here, firms provide decent wages as well as food."
Recognizing the need for real-time data and tracking the movement of interstate guest workers, the state labour department had launched an exclusive web portal - http://labour.tn.gov.in/ism - after the Covid-19 pandemic for their registration.
"Details such as the name, mobile number, native address, nature of accommodation and types of jobs are collected along with their bank details and Aadhaar number. Migrant workers keep shifting from one industry to another. It is difficult to track them. So, we have urged the firms to register their employees on the website," said an official with the labour department.
The data would be used for making policy decisions to ensure the welfare and social security of migrant labourers, he said.
