The reports of coffee workers contracting COVID-19 in Kodagu has bothered the growers as they believe that such cases will further escalate labour shortage already being faced by the district due to the extension of lockdown.
In most places, workers stay in estates and engage in routine work. Such workers are also getting infected besides those who are locally available and hired on a daily basis.
Also, the growers have been instructed not to put the resident workers immediately on work upon their return from COVID-19 Care Centres after recovering from the infection and redeploy them only after placing them in quarantine for a week.
The planters have directions against sourcing workers from other States as a precaution in view of the pandemic situation.
“A lot of risks are involved now in engaging workers. If one worker is infected, other workers who will be identified as contacts are placed in quarantine as per the protocol. In this situation, getting labour from other districts is also challenging. If we insist on testing before hiring, they may not come for work,” according to planters.
The planters at a recent meeting in Madikeri with K.G. Bopaiah, MLA, discussed the issue of workers testing positive to COVID-19.
