Tirupur Garment Units Thrive On Upcountry Migrant Labor

Economy

Tirupur Garment Units Thrive On Upcountry Migrant Labor

The migrant population in Tirupur’s textile mills has reached a point where migrant communities have their own social support system and feel at ease though isolated from the local lingo and bereft of home food.

Native Biharis who have moved into TIrupur’s garment manufacturing units at first did not consider staying in Tamil Nadu for a long term. However, nearly more than six years passed and they got inured to the hardships of a new environ.

When it first began they were far few in numbers and were disadvantaged by not knowing the local lingo. However, as time passed, more and more people from their home town moved in to the garment manufacturing units. They began to get a social circle of their own to move with. Today, these families or individuals feel at home as most of them stay in the same locality or ghetto. It’s however, a motely mixture of families and bachelors as many moved in with their families while some preferred to leave their families behind.

Biharis are not the only settlement the TIrupur units have effectuated. There are people from Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Odisha, and other upcountry states who have formed their own mini-colonies.

Raja M Shanmugham, President Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA) in a media statement on the migrant issue, said, “They turn up in hundreds and leave the same way, only to return after 2-3 months. They leave for their native village during harvest season or, say, when there is a wedding in the family. The exodus is huge between December and February.”

The migrant jobs has also generated ancillary industries as these migrants do not like local food and thus have set up their own kitchens to cook food palatable to them. Tirupur having a large demand for labor encourages these settlements to grow and flourish.

The migrant solution popped up for the labor problem in Tirupur when workers from neighboring districts of Ramanathapuram and Tuticorin stopped working in the garment units some seven years ago. The native villagers of these districts preferred to work in places closer to their home. One of the reasons for the reluctance of the neighboring district laborers to come to TIrupur was the high cost of living. The upcountry migrants however, spend bare minimum on their requirements and manage within the available space.