TRIPUNITHURA: Nearly half a dozen partially completed apartments turn into illegal homes for hundreds of migrant labourers. They work as helpers during the day and convert the top floors of the building into homes during the night.On Thursday morning the body of Nabakhan Nahak, a 35-year-old migrant labourer hailing from Orissa, was found near such a partially completed apartment. In the preliminary enquiry the police suspect that Nahak would have fallen from one of the top floors where he rested for the night. It is learnt that scores of migrant labourers from North India occupy the top floors of work sites.“We are not aware of the actual number of people occupying such high-rises which may include construction workers and some anti-social people, known to migrant labourers,” said the locals who have noticed migrant labourers in such buildings during the night.These half-built structures do not have any security system or railing to prevent mishaps, said local people who expressed their anxiety over the illegal occupation.Moreover, the criminal tendency is more in such migrant labourers who often quarrel. Group fights are frequent among them. Locals who are witness to such tense moments are helpless as they do not follow the colloquial Hindi, Marathi or Oriya spoken by them. Even the police cannot understand their language. Though the Home department tried to categorise the migrant labourers by providing them ID proof, the exercise could not reduce the ever increasing law-and-order problem, as the number of such labourers is increasing by the day.A few months ago a 15-member gang from Madhya Pradesh ransacked the town and even tried to attack the police. The police could trace only three members while the rest escaped. Now the locals suspect the presence of such groups amidst the ‘workers’ camping in these partially completed apartments.Moreover, as the migrant labourers who occupy such buildings consider them as their home, the surroundings are littered with waste. They convert these half-built apartments into shelters by just covering the open space with the net used as screen for work sites.In such a situation a tragedy similar to that of one which happened on Wednesday can happen at any time in such high-rises. “The ever increasing number of migrant labourers are creating severe law-and-order problem in the state.“In the wake of ever-increasing crime rate among the migrant labourers a strict vigil over these half-built apartments is a must to ensure security of the local people,” said N P Satheeshan Menon, an active member of Kochi City Action Force.Against the backdrop of this new development a separate wing in police is essential to deal with these people who speak only Oriya, Bengali, or even the language of a tribal group in Madhya Pradesh. In many cases they even confuse the investigation officers by saying little known regional languages during the questioning, Satheeshan said."It is high time a new wing was started to deal with the migrant labourers from North India,” he said.
Comments
0 comment