Shimla administration brings labour from Terai for apple season

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 4

It is farm labourers from the Terai region of Uttar Pradesh who have filled the shortfall in labour in apple orchards created due to the non-arrival of Nepalese.

More than 10,000 farm labourers from Balrampur, Mahendragarh and Siddharthnagar districts of the Terai region of Uttar Pradesh have been brought here on the demand of the orchardists to help them during the ongoing apple season. The apple crop this year is expected to be about only half of the last year’s bumper crop.

Manpower requirement reduced

As a bumper crop is not expected this year, the labour requirement has been reduced to about 15,000. We have tried our level best to arrange manpower to manage the apple crop till September 30. — Amit Kashyap, Deputy Commissioner, Shimla

“I spoke with the District Magistrates of these places in the Terai region of Uttar Pradesh about the labour required and they were more than happy to help, as more than two lakh people had returned to their native places in that state from across the country,” said Amit Kashyap, Deputy Commissioner, Shimla.

He said that about 14,000 persons had been brought in on the request of

the apple orchardists of Shimla district from the Terai region, Mandi, Shillai and Chamba.

Almost the entire apple belt of Kotgarh, Jubbal-Kotkhai, Rohru, Chopal in Shimla district, Kinnaur, Kullu, Sirmaur and Mandi is dependent on Nepalese labour, who work in the orchards round the year. A majority of them went back to Nepal during

the winter but did not return this year due to the coronavirus outbreak.

As per a survey undertaken by the district administration, about 90,000 labourers are required in the apple orchards of Shimla.

Of this, 30,000 persons along with their families have permanently settled here and they go home only occasionally.

“As a bumper crop is not expected this year, the labour requirement has been reduced to about 15,000. We have tried our level best to arrange manpower to manage the apple crop till September 30,” said Kashyap.

He added that at present almost 4,000 persons from other states, who had been quarantined institutionally, would head to the apple orchards, project sites and construction projects.

“We have kept them in schools, ITIs, dharamsalas or community centres with the help of orchardists, who need them at their orchards,” he said.

As many as 20 persons hailing from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh had tested Covid-positive at an orchard in Rohru, causing fear among people who started adhering to the quarantine norms strictly.

Relaxation in 14-day institutional quarantine

The district administration has reduced the 14-day mandatory institutional quarantine for labourers coming from other states. Those who are asymptomatic or have tested negative for coronavirus will be allowed to proceed to the orchards or the project sites but they will have to remain under in-situ quarantine. This has been done to give some relaxation in the 14-day institutional quarantine, as the labour is badly needed at the orchards