KOTTAYAM: Tension prevailed in Payippad near Changanassery, a prominent settlement of migrant labourers in Kottayam on Sunday, after 2000-odd workers took to streets demanding immediate arrangements to go back to their native places.
Defying the countrywide lockdown, they staged protests on the streets forcing authorities, including district Collector and district police chief, to intervene.
The protest began at 11.30 am when the inter-state migrants, mostly from West Bengal and Assam, staged a blockade on the Changanassery-Mallappilly Road. As the attempts by the local police and the Payippad Panchayat authorities to pacify the protesters failed to yield any result, Collector P K Sudheer babu and the District Police Chief G Jaidev held talks with their representatives and resolved the issue by 2 pm.
Eyewitness accounts suggested that the workers, camping in and around the village, poured into the rural roads on Sunday morning in search of essentials, only to find that all grocery stores in the region are closed. Their resentment snowballed into a protest allegedly after the Panchayat refused to intervene in the issue.
“Labourers in a majority of the camps have been starving since Saturday evening and they reportedly lodged a complaint in this regard to the Panchayat. But despair gave way to anger as they were denied food on the next morning and afternoon as well,” said a local resident.
However, district Collector dismissed this and said that the administration had put in place all the arrangements for their food. “They don’t want cooked food. Hence they demand facilities to return home, which can’t provide in view of the lockdown. We convinced them about the situation and assured all the essential things in the camps so that they cook on their own,” he said.
Later, Civil Supplies Minister P Thilothaman arrived in Payippad. The minister will be holding talks with Collector to ensure such issues are not repeated.
A meeting convened by the Payipad Panchayat the other day had directed the owners of the migrant labour camps to provide food to the inmates during the lockdown period. The meeting, also attended by the Station House Officer, Thrikkodithanam and the Tehsildar, asked the building owners not to evict any of the inmates from the camps during the period.
As per estimates, around 3,500 inter-state migrant workers have been camping in the Payippad area.