The Hassan district administration has stopped many plantation workers who were on the way to their native places by walk. Around 35 workers, all native of Tamil Nadu, who were working in the estates at Belur were stopped at Holenarsipur recently. All of them have been quarantined. Similarly, another group of workers were stopped by the officials and sent back to the estate.
Thousands of workers from different States work in the coffee estates of Hassan, Chikkamagaluru and Kodagu districts. Normally, a majority of them leave for their native places soon after the harvest season. However, this time they could not return due to the lockdown. The police caught those who tried to move out illegally and put them in isolation centres, besides booking cases against the estate owners.
After the lockdown was eased last week, many workers applied for travel passes through the Seva Sindhu portal. The delay in clearing the applications forced the workers to start the journey by walk. K.R.Srinivasa, tahsildar of Holenarsipur, told The Hindu, “As there are no restrictions on movement within the district, people take autorickshaws or some other vehicle to travel till the checkposts. The officers at the checkposts do not allow people to travel without travel passes. We stopped 35 people and quarantined them”, he said.
Meanwhile, Assistant Commissioner of Sakleshpur Girish Nandan has told the planters that the administration would not allow the workers to travel without valid passes. The planters would have to take care of the needs of the workers and make arrangements for their travel when they get the passes. The workers would get travel passes only if the authorities at their native places clear their applications.