Impressed by the state government’s welfare programs and facilities for the agricultural sector, migrant workers have migrated en masse across the state to work in rice plantations.
Posted on – 12:13 AM, Fri – 13 January 23
![Uttar Pradesh workers praise Telangana's farm plan](https://cdn.telanganatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/labourers.jpg)
Karim Nagar: Farm workers from Uttar Pradesh praised the farmer-friendly scheme implemented in Telangana.
Impressed by the welfare programs and facilities provided by the state government to the agriculture sector, migrant workers have migrated en masse across the state to work in rice plantations.
They point out that besides free 24-hour electricity, schemes like Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima and providing adequate water to farmland through irrigation projects have helped farmers here a lot, saying there is no such scheme in Uttar Pradesh.
For the past few weeks, a team of 13 workers from Tanakpur Road, Neoria Husainpur, Pilibhit district, UP, has been working on rice cultivation in different parts of the district. Speaking in Telangana today, one of them, Ashid Bairagi, said that apart from Telangana, they have also been working in rice fields in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and other states for the past few years. He said that not only Uttar Pradesh but other states have not implemented such schemes to guarantee the welfare of farmers.
They didn’t get much work in Uttar Pradesh due to the small area of rice cultivation, that’s why they were forced to migrate to Telangana and other states to make a living. Also, they get double income in Telangana. Bairagi said that in Uttar Pradesh they were paid only Rs 350 a day, while in Telangana they were paid Rs 600 a day.
Another laborer, Golak Mandal, said that earlier, they used to go to AP, but have come to Telangana for the past four years. He said Telangana has more facilities for farmers compared to other states.
Besides that, the atmosphere in the state is pleasant and the people are friendly, said Rina Mandal, adding that they will be staying in the state for three months.
Meanwhile, local agents are hiring laborers from the states of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and Chhattisgarh to work in the rice fields here. Apart from providing shelter, cooking gas and rice, each team pays 3,500 to 4,500 rupees for laborers who plant rice on an acre of land. Each team works on four to five acres a day, and agents charge workers a commission of Rs 900 to Rs 1,000 per acre.
Gujjula Srinivas Reddy, a farmer from Ramakrishna Colony in the Thimmapur mandal, said local workers were charged Rs 5,800 for sowing rice on an acre of land. However, the rate of migrant workers doing the same work is much lower.