While the plight of fishermen and farmers has occupied the attention of the government, albeit after a delay, there is no word on migrant workers from West Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam and Odisha, who also ventured into the sea in significant numbers with local fishermen. Migrant workers have become a common sight in Kanniyakumari fishing. It is difficult to get people for cooking, loading fish and other jobs during fishing voyages. These workers from north India come in handy. The salary they get is more compared to other menial jobs. I pay them at least ?500 a day even if there is no catch. If we get more fish, we pay them more, says W. Xavier, who operates a boat from Colachel. Xavier and his crew, with three youths from Kolkata, got stuck at sea but escaped although their boat got damaged. After reaching the shore, the youths immediately returned to Kolkata. They told me that three of their friends, who went in another boat from Vizhinjam (in Kerala), had drowned, he says. A. Nobin says that five of the eight persons, who drowned in the boat of his acquaintance in Colachel, were migrant workers. Gathering authentic information about them is difficult since they keep to themselves. S. Mukesh, from a village near Raipur in Jharkhand, who goes on fishing boats from Thengapattanam, says he and his friends are safe, but does not know about others. Migrant workers live on the boat itself even when it is docked, which makes it difficult to track them. A majority of them have returned home after the cyclone, some people say. Mr. Xavier points out that it will be difficult to trace missing migrant workers, unless they have friends on the shore. They would have left their identity cards and cell phones on the boats. If the boats have drowned or drifted away along with the crew, how do we know their details? Mr. Xavier asks.
2017, The Hindu