Elections 2019: The Ghost Town of Kairana, Where Migration Is the Real Issue, Not ‘Exodus’

Kairana: Situated on the banks of the shrinking river Yamuna, over half a dozen villages in Kairana wear a deserted look as the residents of these hamlets have moved to different states in search of jobs and other employment opportunities.

This reporter visited Ramda, Nagla Bagh, Mammor, Khahkhor and Maavi villages, situated five kilometre East of Kairana town, and found almost all the houses empty with the doors locked.

The Kairana town, which falls under the Shamli district, had hogged the limelight a couple of years ago when the late Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of parliament (MP) had raised the issue of “exodus of Hindu families” due to the “atrocities by Muslim dominants” of the area.

These villages are home to the Mallah community, most of whom are Muslims. They accuse the illegal sand mafias for the largescale migration, as the groundwater level has been lowered significantly. The upper layers of the soil have become almost infertile, taking a huge toll on the riverbed dwellers, say the locals.

The livelihood of the Mallah community is dependent on the rivers, as traditionally, their main vocation has been fishing. They earn livelihood also from the farming of pumpkins, cucumber and water melons. But with the shrinking Yamuna – due to the non-release of water from the Hathinikund barrage – the people from the Mallah community have been forced to relocate to other states where they can lease land easily on the riverbed, and start the farming, says Farzal Ali, one of the elderly residents of Nagla Bagh.

Ali, 60, told NewsClick, “There are more than 100 houses in this village. We have electricity and every other facility, but there are no jobs. You would find people in at most five houses of this village, and the rest of the houses are locked.”

“Everyone – from the district magistrate, additional district magistrate to the panchayat secretary – knows about this problem, but no one has ever cared to take any step. These people who have migrated live for more than eight months a year at a different place, and they do not even come back to practise their franchise,” added Ali.

Hafiz Yusuf, the village headman said, “Mallahs are basically Nishads (a caste in Northern India), but Hindu Nishads do not think of us as their people.”

Another villager, Mohammad Jameera, 70, said that his sons have moved to Bihar for work, as he looks after the house and the kids.

“We are landless farmers. We grow produce on the riverbeds, but with an increase in the illegal mining the riverbeds here, it has become difficult. The border dispute over Yamuna, between Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, is also taking a toll on our lives, as the water is not released on time,” he said.

Jameera demanded that the government start an enquiry against the mining mafias, who violate the rules regarding the permissible depth and area for the mining. “It is severely affecting the vegetation here,” he added.

“The government should also keep a check on the use of heavy machinery being used for the mining, as the machines dig more than 20 ft, while the manual labour digs up to only 3 ft,” he said.

Jameera further said that the villagers are so poor that they cannot even afford the bus or railway tickets to the other cities and for this, they mortgage their ornaments, utensils with the local jewellers.

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Amit Pal Sharma, the sub district magistrate of Kairana, told Newsclick: “The administration is not aware of this massive migration, but we knew that these people moved to the other places for employment. This looks more like a seasonal migration. Otherwise, the villagers should meet us, and give us a written complaint. The administration continuously keeps a check on the illegal mining, and there is still water in the river Yamuna.” He also assured that he will work on this front once the polling is done in Kairana.

Kairana will go to polls in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections, on April 11.

The Economic Survey of India 2017 estimated that the magnitude of the inter-state migration in India was close to 9 million annually between 2011 and 2016, while Census 2011 has pegged the total number of internal migrants in the country (accounting for inter and intra-state movement) at a staggering 139 million. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are the biggest source states, followed closely by Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and West Bengal. The major destination states are Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

BJP leader and runner up of 2018 Lok Sabha bypolls, Mriganka Singh, says that she is aware of the issue, and would have made this issue a poll plank if she would have got the ticket.

“I am planning to visit the party bosses and tell them about it,” she told NewsClick.

According to Magsaysay Award-winner Rajendra Singh, known best as the 'water man of India', the problem of the seasonal migration is growing in India. “If this is the magnitude of the people moving, then it definitely shows that the problem is very serious. With the things I am getting to know from you, it looks like this place is reeling under a serious threat, and the administration should act immediately to solve the crisis,” he said.

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(With inputs from Tarique Anwar)

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