Why migrants from Assam are staying back in Kerala

Prabin.Kalita@timesgroup.com

Guwahati:  20.05.2020

An approachable and caring government machinery right down to the panchayat level, employers with big hearts, and kind locals have won the admiration of thousands of migrant Assamese youths in Kerala, who have preferred to stay back in ‘God’s own country’ even as thousands of migrant workers in other states are heading home braving all odds.

Till Tuesday, nearly 50,000 citizens of Assam had returned but not a single one from Kerala, where an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 skilled and unskilled youths from this northeast state are employed.

“Except for only a few, we are comfortably placed and do not want to go back to Assam,” said Dimbeswar Baruah from Dhemaji district, who had migrated to Kerala in search of a livelihood after the devastating floods of 1996. He now works as a painter and body repairing technician at an automobile servicing centre in Alappuzha district.

“My employer has not asked me to go back home even once. He has paid my dues and also helped me with food. It’s not just me but all his employees from several states,” Dimbeswar said.

“The Kerala DGP has given his personal number to all workers here so that they can call him up for help. The police call us regularly to know about our wellbeing and the locals have stood by us all the time,” he added.

“Even panchayat members are in constant touch with us,” said Mantu Dutta from Assam’s Lakhimpur district, who works as freezing operator at an ice factory in Ernakulam district.