Kodagu Floods Leave Assamese, Bengali Migrant Workers in a Limbo

Among the thousands of people rehabilitated in rescue centres across the flood-affected Kodagu district of Karnataka, many are migrant workers. Employed in the coffee, pepper and other plantations in the district, they were rescued from the hilltops by authorities once the landslides began. One such camp is in Madapura, a village at the foothills of the Mukkodlu hills.

Around 340 people have been given shelter in a government school-turned-relief centre, and more than 100 of them are migrant workers, mostly from Assam.

The main road leading to our estate was damaged. The hill above our estate had come down and blocked the road. When we realised we were cut off, our estate owner brought us to this camp.

Noor Hussain, a native of Guwahati, Assam

At the rescue centre, staying with his family and fellowmen from the state, Hussain is uncertain of his future. He is awaiting a word from either the district administration or his employer. “If our employer asks us to return to the estate, we will. And if we are asked to go back home, we are ready for that as well,” he said.

But when asked what he wanted, he said he wanted to work for few more months. “We eventually have to go back, but we want to work some more before that.”

Another worker, Adhaudhin, had recently returned from Assam after enrolling in the National Register of Citizens (NRC). When asked what he plans to do now, he said:

What options do I have? I don’t have any money. I want to stay and work here. What will I do at home?

The district administration is currently compiling a list of the migrant workers in the district. A senior official said based on the information collected, plantation owners will be contacted.

“In a few days’ time we will ask them (the plantation owners) to either take the workers back to the estates or make arrangements for their travel back home,” said an official.

However, the plantation owners are in a dilemma. Many of them have not been able to assess the damage caused to their estates. They are unsure if they can take back the workers.

But some of the estate owners, who want to restart work, like Deepak, the owner of Giridhari estate, want their workers to stay back. “We will need their help to rebuild what we have lost… but if any of them says they want to go back, we will make the arrangements,” he said.

With the Kodagu district shifting gears from rescue to rehabilitation, in the coming days the future of hundreds of migrant workers will become clearer.