Migrant labourers flood Punjab as paddy transplantation kicks off
The process began on June 9.
The scene at Barnala railway station has been particularly chaotic over the past two days, with trains from distant locations arriving packed with workers. "Despite the rising temperatures, trains are full," according to local traders.
Farmers, many of whom had pre-arranged their workforce with advance payments and other incentives, were seen waiting with tractor-trailers to transport the arriving labourers directly to their fields.
This year, some farmers even utilised digital payment methods like Google Pay for advance deposits.
"We were impatiently waiting for the labourers and heaved a sigh of relief when the worker we hired for paddy transplantation reached Barnala railway station," said Sukhwinder Singh and Karnail Singh, farmers from Sanghera village near Barnala, on Tuesday.
Paddy transplantation in Barnala, Sangrur, Mansa, Moga, Malerkotla, Ludhiana, Patiala, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar districts began on June 9.
The commencement of paddy operations comes after a temporary setback in labour availability. Many migrant workers who had remained in Punjab earlier this year returned to their home states around May 10, following heightened tensions between India and Pakistan after India's strikes on terrorist locations on May 7 and subsequent Pakistani drone activity.
Paddy transplantation had already begun on June 1 in Faridkot, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Muktsar, and Fazilka. Operations in Gurdasphpur, Pathankot, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Rupnagar, SAS Nagar, Fatehgarh Sahib, and Hoshiarpur commenced on June 5.
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