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Unusual rush for the the weekly Thiruvananthapuram-Guwahati train has led many to wonder if demonetisation and its 'crunch' impact on cash is driving many of the migrant labour employed here back home. Kerala employs between 25 lakh to 30 lakh migrant labourers in sectors ranging from construction, plantations, hotels and restaurants and the rest of the services sector. A spokesman of the Southern Railway said the train ordinary/sleeper class coaches of the long-distance train operate 'houseful' on to-and-fro trips and he has not been able to ascertain any unusual trend. But those manning the counters said more number of tickets have been sold than usual during the last couple of days. Heavier accompanying luggage with many of the home-bound was one feature that 'appeared give the game away', they said. Only a few had reserved their tickets; the rest had just forced themselves on board the train. A ticketing official said he has not witnessed the rush and 'this heavy luggage' in a long time. The labourers belonging mostly to Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh may have found the going tough after two weeks of demonetisation, which has cut off the flow of notes of lower denomination. Bikash Mondal, who belongs to West Bengal and was engaged by a contractor in the construction sector in Kollam, said he has been paid in Rs. 2,000 notes but was finding it difficult to exchange it for smaller denomination notes. "The Rs. 2,000 note is not worth anything except that I can take it home and use for some big spends," he said. One serious issue that he faced was with keeping the high-value notes at the tin-roofed structure where he lived. He does not have a bank account but will now seriously think of having one. "Since I did not have a bank account, I ran the risk of being plundered at my own place of stay," he said. Mondal is bound for home, but is not averse to returning after the dust settles. On the other hand, Ranjan Sarkar, his friend, said he has a bank account and used to send money home to Assam every week. "But my employer said he would not have any work for me for 'some time to come' and advised me to instead go home and check with him later before deciding to come back to Kerala for work," Sarkar said.
Keywords
money, demonetisation, Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati, migrant labour, employment, Kerala, services sector, Bihar, Assam
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