A natural disaster or one in the making for several decades?

Labour leader G Gomati, who has been fighting for the rights for the landless Dalits and tribals, who form a chunk of the workforce on the Kerala tea plantations, says the Pettumudi landslide should not be viewed in isolation but one that highlights the decades-long struggle of bondage for the plantation workers

Written By Mrudula Bhavani | Translated from an article on Keyboard Journal |9th August

On August 7, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan replied at a press briefing that the government is prepared to face flood and landslides as in previous two years, and the Pettimudi landslide in Idukki’s Rajamala is unexpected. When asked why government helicopters were not being used for rescue operations, he said he had received expert advice that the weather was adverse.

The landless Dalits, workers, tribals, and those living along the coastal line always suffer the worst from environmental disasters. Governments need to develop sustainable strategies for their survival.

In the massive landslide on the morning of August 7, families of 24 Tamil-Dalit workers at the Kannan Devan Hill Plantation tea estate in Pettimudi were buried deep under soil and rocks. G Gomati, the leader of the Pompilai Orumai strike of 2015 at the Kannan Devan Hills Plantation, said, “Large rocks and mud came and covered up the plantation as if there was nothing there.” The area had been out of reach for several days prior to the tragedy. “A tragedy like this can’t be called unexpected. Five years ago when we went on a strike, the media went into frenzy and ‘exposed’ the workers’ one-room houses,” says Gomati. But the buildings with the temporary housing for workers are old. The workers are forced to retain the facility just because they do not own any land. The families use it to keep their belongings but live on the plantation as the space is too little to accommodate the families. Even the road and the bridge to Pettimudi, which incurred damage in the 2018 floods, have not been repaired properly. “In order to end the strike, the company had promised to expand the facilities for the workers but that has not happened.”

Gomati further points out that the workers would not sit in this rain if they had land or homes. “Nearly 85 people were living in the houses over three lanes (layams), each of which has six to 12 houses. About 49 workers died and a few were rescued. Everything else is under the soil,” rues Gomati. Most of the workers send their children to school with the minimum wage they earn working on the plantation. The children study at Adimali and Munnar Convent Schools because the parents are determined to provide them a good education.

Several of these children died in the landslide. Eleven bodies released on Saturday of which three were unidentified. The death toll from the landslide rose to 42 by Sunday afternoon.

“With the next election coming up, it looked like an opportunity to gain votes, so everyone visited the site of tragedy. But they do not understand our lives. We are forced to work for the company until the age of 60. If you retire, you are expected to leave the house with nowhere else to go. I have been talking about this injustice for long,” Gomati adds.

The phone network and power supply were still in a state of disrepair on August 8 and strong winds and rain were expected. The rescue operation was carried out by the plantation workers, tribal people of Idamalakkudi and those who came from Marayoor and Munnar on foot before the government rescue operations reached Pettimudi.

“This plantation is government property. Yet the government is not ready to take it over. The government has handed over its land to the monopolies. To be honest, this plantation work is a terrible job. Why live as a slave to politicians and company for meagre wage? Leeches suck our blood. We work in all extreme weather conditions. There is no good hospital or school nearby. I know the misery of the people who work in it. My father wanted me to get a good job and he didn’t want me to work here. But my father could not fight like I did. My children will not have to suffer like I have. My children have to get out of the plantation,” points out Gomati.

The plantation workers are all Dalits. And Gomati says that since they are landless, the children are also forced to follow their families into plantation work. Since the children do not know Malayalam, it adds to the challenges.

In 2017, when the G Gomati, Rajeshwari and Kausalya organised a land struggle in Munnar town, raising the demand for one acre of land for a working family, the electricity minister and CPIM leader MM Mani issued anti-Dalit and misogynistic statement against the agitation. As a member of Devikulam Block Panchayat, Gomati has been subjected to discrimination and boycott in Munnar town and on KSRTC buses.

When she contested in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Gomati’s manifesto focussed on the rehabilitation of tea plantation workers from the company’s farms, amendment of the Plantation Labor Act, increase in bonus over the present wage of Rs 400, setting up of a multi-specialty hospital in Munnar, schools and colleges for Dalits and tribals, special schemes for farmers in flood-hit Idukki. During the election, Gomati had made it clear that she felt alone in her struggle against the geopolitics and plantation monopoly of the flood-hit Munnar and the whole of Idukki. She had said that she had experienced racism towards Tamils and Dalits from Kerala.

The vast hectares of Kannan Devan-TATA plantation was given in lease to JD Monroe and AW Tanner in 1879.  They, under the North Travancore Land Planning and Agricultural Society, cultivated coffee and cardamom. In 1897, Finlay Mueller and the Glasgow Company began cultivating tea in the area. Tata Finley Ltd was formed in 1976 with the James Finley Group. Tata acquired the company in 1983 and formed Kannan Devan Hills Plantation Company Pvt Ltd in 2005. The company became a major player in the production and export of tea from south India. The seven tea estates on the 23,783-hectare plantation employ 10,000 people.

When the majority of women workers began their strike in 2015, triggering a demand for wage hikes, the company owners alleged external links to the movement. The plantation workers then put forward the suggestion of better education for the new generations, the use of mechanisation for plucking tea shoots, and the enactment of legislation to make land available to each worker on their own, as a means of breaking out of the caste bondage of plantation work.

In the interview with Madhyamam weekly in 2018, Gomati said that the intelligence agency and the police had followed her since the land struggle was declared. As a result of intimidation she had to vacate her house in Munnar. She moved to Poomala. “Everyone is talking about the beauty of Munnar. The outside world knows what’s going on here, but no one responds. The poor have no land here. But these politicians can encroach and own land anywhere. Is anyone talking about Joyce George MP? All these politicians own cottages and acres of land. They all grew up on our blood. Our land struggle is not just for the tea plantation workers, it is for the landless Dalits and adivasis. ”

Gomathi finds it oppressive to declare compensation to the deaths. “This is oppressive. It happens from time to time. The government has priced their lives at Rs 5 lakh. The rains of August have just begun, who knows what else is awaiting Munnar? Many have filed complaints to get their houses furnished or built, if anything happens to them won’t they too be rated by compensation like this?”