Need For Labors In Patiala Farms

Farmers in the state once lured migrants with ease and fed them with “Makki DI roti” and “Sarson DA saag”. But in the recent days the conditions have changed, where due to the shortage of labor, farmers are trying to lure the labors with different kinds of alcoholic things like Ganja, Bang etc.

Some of the common things in luring the labors in Punjab and Patiala are alcohols, rations, money, food, shelter and many more. Punjabi and Patiala landlords are playing a great deal in luring the labors through these things. One of the farmer says that the rising price of fuels and other related stuffs have already provided them a great problem. And in addition to this, they need to lure the labors during the paddy season for harvesting the crops. Hence it provides a great problem for the farmers. At another remote village of Patiala, a laborer working at a farm said poppy husk was available for Rs 800 to Rs 1,000 per kg and usually, it was the responsibility of the landlord to supply it to the farmhands.

The drugs in demand include opium, poppy husk, bhang, tobacco and Ganja. And the severe actions of the police against these alcoholic stuffs have led more problems for the farmers as the overall cost of the alcoholic things increased.

Farmers say that in the past, poppy husks were easily available and were very cheap. They used to store the year’s product. But the things have changed nowadays, where many factors like police pressure, gain in the effective cost of different products have led a great decrement in the overall production. Different migrant labors say that poppy and Bhang have been the most attractive things for padding the fields. But the shortage of labors in Patiala, has made them to bring labors from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. For saving money women are also made to work on the field, as their demand is very less and they work sincerely without any problem. A farmer in Sanaur, named Nirbhay Singh, says that he has very less men who are working as labors. Maximum of them are women working in these conditions.
A Superintendent of Police from Patiala says that the conditions are like that farmers needed to train the blind people for padding their fields and farms as the migrant labors think that it is just a loss of time and energy in the harsh rays of the sunlight.