Thimmappa, a farm worker from Karnataka, along with his wife came to N.G.Padu village in Prakasam district in March for harvesting and processing of Bengal gram like in the previous years. However, along with many other co-workers from Raichur district, he was caught unawares by the lockdown. They were counting days to return home, when the lockdown extension came as another blow.
Over 150 families live in makeshift tents without enough food. Another 100 families from Bellary who have come to harvest chilli at Inkollu village are going through a similar turmoil.
These workers from Karnataka are preferred as they are highly skilled, says R. Gopalakrishna, a farmer in Pamidipadu village.
They stay in the farm itself for a month or so and put in long hours of work before going back to Karnataka. The labourers from Bihar, Odisha and other places who have been engaged in processing of black galaxy granite in Chimakurthy are also finding the going tough.
"We are not in a position to restart the mining activity till the health situation eases and orders from foreign firms improve," says K. Samson, a supervisor in a granite mining unit there.
Locals stuck in big cities
Close to one lakh people migrate to big cities from Bodlagudur, Pamur, C.S. Puram, P.C. Palli and other villages here every year when there is no work in the farms here and return only after onset of monsoon. Now they are clueless as to when they will be able to return home.
It is during the summer over 5 lakh people work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme every year in the district. Hardly 25,000 work now in view of dislocation in their movement.
Highlighting the plight of the workers, Andhra Pradesh Agricultural Workers Union Prakasam district secretary K. Anjaneyulu wants the government to provide all workers an ex gratia of ₹5,000 each to cope with the tough situation.
