It is not just penury that the agents exploit to lure young males from tribal villages spread over the eastern ghats for cutting timber in the forests.
The villagers are found to be best suited for the arduous task of cutting wood non-stop for a long duration owing to their high stamina they had developed through consumption of organically cultivated ragi, say social workers.
They consume other millets too and hence have a high level of energy to withstand the rigour of timber work, according to NGOs working for their socio-economic uplift.
They are from the contiguous terrain covering Mettur and Kalvarayan Hills on the side of Salem district and Andhiyur block in Erode district, apart from innumerable tribal villages in Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri districts.
The situation of unemployment caused by truant rainfall has caused their migration. For more than a decade, young males have been going to Kerala to work in bamboo plantation.
They are taken to various other estates in Kerala and Karnataka too.
But, in some cases, these illiterates fall prey to unscrupulous agents and end up as workers of red sanders smugglers operating in Andhra Pradesh, the NGOs say.
It happens despite the awareness created by the government and NGOs regularly, as the remuneration they offer is very high. It is another matter that promises are not kept.
Even in this particular case, a good number of tribal people on the Kalvarayan hills were promised jobs in plantations.
But were taken to Andhra Pradesh instead.
Murugesan, a native of Adiyanur village, from where three victims hailed, too was a member of the group that was taken by an agent promising jobs in plantations in Mysore. They were offered about ₹ 1,000 a day.
But after a few days work, they were paid just ₹ 500 a day, much to their shock.
Later they were asked to fell the well grown trees. When the workers refused, they were not given any wages and food.
“We were forced to starve for almost four days,” Murugesan says.
Later, we were forcibly taken in a van to the forests in Andhra Pradesh. On spotting a Forest Department team, the agent asked them to run away. While trying to escape, some of them jumped into the lake, he says.
The agents escape during a crisis.
Ponnusamy, deputy general secretary of the Kalvarayan Hills based Malai Vaazh Makkal Sangam, did not mince words. Only a stringent action by the government, including criminal proceedings, will deter unscrupulous agents.
So many lives have been lost in the recent past, and a large number of hapless Malayali tribal workers are languishing in prisons in Andhra Pradesh and Telengana. No one has helped them get a bail. Some of them have even become mentally ill.
But, no agent was arrested in any of these cases so far. Hence, the agents rule the roost exploiting the ignorance and illiteracy of the tribal people.
