In the first week of December alone, the deaths of four migrants were reported in the district.
The victims aged between 22 and 35 years died by suicide, drowning, due to cardiac arrest, or after being hit by train. In October, eight migrant deaths were reported in the district.
While such data has been collated by an NGO, there is no institutional mechanism to keep track of the considerable number of migrant deaths being reported in the district every month despite their relatively young age.
“The migrant deaths are not aggregated officially, and hence, the causes behind those deaths are not being analysed. Ideally, there should be a district-level coordination committee of all stakeholders concerned to brainstorm over the various problems, not just their deaths, faced by the large migrant community,” said Benoy Peter, executive director, Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development, which started building up a database of the migrant deaths in the district a few months ago with the help of its outreach workers and various organisations and departments.
According to organisations working amidst migrants, the deaths could be broadly attributed to three causes – workplace accidents, diseases, including occupational and lifestyle, and mental stress and suicides.
“In the case of accidents caused by workplace accidents, the employers often try to hush up the incident and try to rush the bodies back with the help of private agencies. The labour department is also kept in the dark to avoid payment of compensation to the kin of the victims. There should be a government order making it mandatory for hospitals to report migrant deaths with the district medical officer and the district labour officer,” said George Mathew, chairperson, Progressive Workers’ Organisation.
P.M. Firoz, District Labour Officer, admitted that while the migrant deaths taking place in government hospitals are duly reported with the labour department, the same cannot be said about deaths taking place elsewhere.
Akhil Manual, medical officer, National Health Mission, Ernakulam, said that there was indeed a gap in recording the deaths among the 40-lakh-strong migrant community in the State.
Nizar Ahmad, district judge and member secretary of the Kerala State Legal Services Authority, also batted for such a mechanism. “We have in the past intervened to help the migrant community with their journeys back home during the pandemic and also in securing them various benefits. We are more than willing to associate with any project to account the deaths of migrants systematically,” he said.
