Another farmer from the area told National Herald that the acute shortage of the workforce would be felt in the coming days.”If the migrant labourers continue to flee the Valley, there will be soon an acute shortage of the workforce”, he said.A day after two more non-local labourers were shot in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district, the migrant labourers have been leaving the Valley in buses, shared cabs and trains.On Monday, the trains, which pulled out of Nowgam railway station in Srinagar were more or less full of the migrant labourers.Neeraj, a labourer from UP said that it was difficult to work in the Valley under current circumstances.He said that many of them had been moved to the security zones while others were asked not to venture out.However, there are many such labourers who have decided not to leave the Valley.”I have been working here since the troubled 90s and never felt unsafe. I haven’t seen people more humble and caring anywhere than in the Valley. I don’t have any plans to leave the Valley”, said Mohan, a resident of UP.A brick kiln owner in Kulgam told National Herald that the exodus of non-local labourers would result in expensive labour.”There are around 15 to 20 brick kilns in the area and in each kiln, around 150 to 200 non-local labourers are working. If they continue to flee the area, the labour costs will shoot up considerably “, he said.He said that the construction in the Valley was going on at full throttle.The owner, however, added that no labourer from his kiln had fled thus far.Javed Ahmad Khan, who teaches Economics at Islamic University of Science and Technology , Awantipora, Kashmir said, ” If the current trend of exodus continues, it will decrease the output of economy and increase the labour wages”.Khan, however, said that the exodus at this point of time would not impact much as the Valley was inching towards off season.(Gulzar Bhat is a Srinagar based journalist. He tweets @Gulzarbhatt).
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