Andhra Pradesh

Migrant labour look to Adilabad for work

By S. Harpal Singh

ADILABAD, MARCH 10. Its own poverty notwithstanding, Adilabad has become the land of opportunity for many from other States in India. A few hundred migrant labourers, especially from Orissa, West Bengal and Bihar, earn their livelihoods in the district in hotels, oil solvent plants and brick industries.

Poverty and lack of opportunities forced the people from these States, mainly youth, to find employment in some of the districts of Andhra Pradesh.

The migration of labourers to Adilabad started in the early 1980s when the gradual growth in construction activity in the district threw new opportunities. Gradually, more and more people migrated to the district and found suitable opportunities in its accommodating dhabas and numerous roadside hotels.

Tales of grit

Sanjay Kumar Jena (23) was one among the first to have migrated from Orissa's Balasore district to Adilabad.

He now works in a dhaba beside the National Highway number 7 at Bhoraj near Adilabad.

"My family owns six acres of land in Basta near the river Bans. Every rainy season this river is in spate and our crop gets washed away. Vexed with this situation, I migrated to Mancherial first and later to Adilabad where I earn enough to keep me going and send something back home," says Sanjay Jena.

Like Jena, Gour Gopal Chand (22) of Bansbani in Balasore district studied upto class X. However, being educated does not mean better opportunities in his State.

He reveals "Bribes have to be paid to get a Government job. We need to shell out anything between Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 50,000 for even a minor Government job."

Aliboddin Shiekh of Hridaipur in Nadia district of West Bengal works in a dhaba after having migrated recently. "Due to successive failure of crops, my elder brother migrated to Mumbai and I came to Adilabad. I got to know about this place through another person from Bengal," he says.

Hard working

"These migrant labourers are hardworking and earn over Rs. 2,500 a month excluding their food and lodge. They eat and sleep in the hotel premises thereby saving a lot of money," said Pravesh Kumar Salhotra, owner of a dhaba.

There are an estimated 400 labourers from Bihar employed in the brick industry in Adilabad district.

A similar number is employed in oil solvent plants. In addition, there are many from Maharashtra employed in the cotton ginning and pressing mills.

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