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Two migrants killed, three missing in Wayanad landslides
323 migrant workers displaced, concludes a team from the Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development after a week-long tour of affected areas
The landslides in Wayanad claimed the lives of two migrant workers, left three missing and displaced 323 migrants, found a fact-finding team of the Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development (CMID) after a week-long tour of the affected areas.
The disaster had not led to mass casualties among the migrant workforce as was reported by sections of media, though denied by the government all along. Although many were injured, all have been discharged from hospitals, except for one person from Bihar.
Victims of disaster
There were reports that 200-odd migrants from West Bengal were affected though not a single Bengali migrant was found affected by the CMID team. Among the deceased, one was from Bihar and the other was a one-and-a-half-year-old child from Nepal. The mother of the child was injured. Incidentally, the child was not killed in the Mundakkai landslide but in another minor landslide in a place called Kunjom beyond Mundakkai, as per information gathered by the field staff of CMID by verifying with multiple sources.
Three workers from Bihar employed in a tea plantation in Mundakkai were the missing ones. “Efforts are on to collect the DNA samples to track down the missing workers from Vaishali district in Bihar. A person who was dispatched to Bihar for the purpose is struggling to raise funds, including for transportation. With many camps disbanded, large sections of the migrant workers were forced to return, which may deny them any immediate cash assistance declared by the government,” said Benoy Peter, executive director, CMID.
Looking for jobs
Among the displaced were 80-odd children and over 100 women. Most of them were shifted to temporary shelters as a safety precaution. Many of the displaced have either returned to their native States or are looking for jobs.
Most of the migrant workers were employed in plantations and some in the few resorts in the affected area. “Long-serving migrant workers from States such as Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are being treated as local residents, which was heartening,” said Mr. Peter.
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