Lok Sabha Polls: Locals point to lack of jobs in Bengal's Murshidabad
Murshidabad constituency. They are ghost villages, with hardly any youth left to even bury the dead. 80-90% of the men from Raninagar, Jalangi and Domkal assembly segments under Murshidabad constituency are in Kerala, Karnataka, Hyderabad and Maharashtra where they work as migrant workers. Lack of employment opportunities have forced most of the young to middle-aged men to head South for better wages.
Hasibul Rehman from Murshidabad's Jalangi has visited Kerala twice for work and worked as a labourer in a factory. He has not gone to school but is the sole earner in his family in Sahebrampur village of Murshidabad constituency which goes to polls on May 7 in the third phase.
Abdus Sabur, a middle-aged man, who frequented Kerala from mid 1990s to 2005, now runs a truck business in Jalangi's Naccherpara. «You will not find a single household from where the men have not visited Kerala. They do all sorts of jobs as daily labourers — lifting soil, cutting ponds, construction work, plumbing, coconut picking and even cleaning drains. Most of the men from Jalangi are in Kerala,» Saber told ET.
Abdul Latif Sheikh from Hariharpara area under Murshidabad constituency said, «A worker earns ₹900-1,200 per day in Kerala or Hyderabad compared to ₹250 in Murshidabad. So, most migrant workers from Murshidabad go South. I work in Hyderabad where I have been running a sari business for the last 16 years.»
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