Punjab’s farmers are falling critically short of hands. They sow paddy on about 26 lakh hectares to produce around 150 lakh tonnes of rice every year.
Want railway minister to transport 1 lakh workers free to labour-strapped state
CHANDIGARH: Punjab’s farmers are falling critically short of hands. They sow paddy on about 26 lakh hectares to produce around 150 lakh tonnes of rice every year. As the transplantation of paddy officially started in Punjab on Wednesday, farmers have been scouring railway stations and bus stands for the arrival of migrant labour.
Every year around this time more than five lakh labour arrives from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. But this time the number is so scarce that farmers are ready to offer 40-50% hike in wages to attract them to their fields.
Former union minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa has, in fact, sent an SOS to union railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, requesting him to allow free travel to labour from Bihar to Punjab to help farmers tide over the crisis.
A river water expert PS Kumedan said the average fare per labourer from UP and Bihar to Punjab would be Rs500 per head. “If one lakh labourers are brought free-of-cost to the state, the total cost will be only Rs5 crore. But the losses to farmers might be manifold more if labour is not made available to them,” he said.
The expert said since a large portion of the 150 lakh tonnes of rice produced by the state goes to the Central pool, the Centre must extend a helping hand to Punjab. Farmers had started booking labourers at Rs850 per acre around one month ago, even though the rate last year was Rs600 per acre. Now, however, with the number of labourers coming from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh decreasing drastically, the rates have shot up to between Rs1,200 to Rs1,500 per acre in most parts of the state.
The desperation has been so severe that many farmers from the Malwa region have been going to neighbouring Haryana and Rajasthan states as well to fetch labour. In some parts of the state, family members of farmers have been pooling around to help one another as the time for sowing the crop has been running out.
The number of labourers has been less this time because back home they are now being paid nearly as much. Besides, they are also moving in large numbers to work in SEZs in Orissa and Karnataka where they are being paid more than the prevailing rates in Punjab.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) leader Balbir Singh Rajewal says the only way out of the crisis is mechanised transplantation. He is of the view that the government can help by supplying paddy transplanters, which cost around Rs10 lakh each, to cooperative societies.
b_ajay@dnaindia.net
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