The probe into the gruesome rape and murder of a Dalit law student has shed light on an issue that has come up with the influx of migrant workers to Perumbavoor — the great rental rip-off.
Investigations revealed that Ameerul Islam, the accused in the case, had been living with seven others in a room that barely accommodates three persons. The three-storied building, which houses a tea shop on the ground floor, had 32 persons living in four rooms on its first and second floors.
According to police officers, a majority of the building owners are not forthright about the monthly rent collected from each of the inmates. “The rent collected per month is proportional to the number of persons accommodated in each room. The landlords always try to accommodate as many persons as possible in a single room,” said an official with the Ernakulam Rural police.
Rent collected
The rent collected per person per month is anything between Rs.1,500 and Rs.2,500, depending on the building’s proximity to the worksites and availability of water and power. “Most of them live in filthy conditions, while sometimes there is just one bathroom available for 30 to 40 persons. In a hurry to make money, the house owners do not even care about collecting the identity documents,” the official added.
For instance, George Kalambadan, the 60-year-old owner of the building where the accused was reportedly living for five months, had no idea of his tenant. “I had originally extended rental accommodation to 19 workers from West Bengal and never knew that a man from Assam was living among them. That’s how I failed to notice that he had absconded after the crime,” Mr. George told The Hindu .
Mr. George, who has rented two of his buildings for accommodating migrant workers, said he never dealt with the tenants directly. “I have rented these buildings to a labour contractor, who brin gs the tenants,” he added.
An unofficial estimate by the local police suggested that over 3,000 such facilities, majority of them single rooms without even a bathroom, have come up in and around Perumbavoor over the last five years.
