A few days after migrant labourers clashed with villagers, more than 70 per cent houses are vacant owing to the exodus of labourers. The one-room apartments were built by the locals specially for migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa when the Reliance Industry Limited (RIL)’s refinery came up in this village of Jamnagar district in Saurashtra.Despite cultural and linguistic differences, the villagers and the migrants co-existed for eight years as it made economic sense. The locals earn about Rs 45 lakh per month in rent, while the migrants got cheap accommodation near the refinery.The migrants outnumbered the locals by nearly three to one till Wednesday in the population of 14,000. On Friday, the village had only 4,000 people as migrants vacated the place. Though there were differences over the way migrants dressed or behaved, they never assumed serious proportions as they did on Wednesday when the village saw a major rift between the two.It began when villagers beat up labourers when they made passes at girls. In retaliation, workers gathered on Thursday afternoon when the second shift was over and attacked villagers. The clash left eight injured. The economic ties that held the peace were broken when the workers decided to shift to a labourers’ colony in Sikka, six kilometres away. Villagers said that they were ready to let go of the rent if they got peace. Few tenants have taken the risk to stay back because they have families but have been told to stay in a separate locality. ‘‘All of us have shifted to the labourers’ colony,’’ said Yusuf Imtiaz, luggage in his hand. Clutching his Identity-card, he was waiting to enter the colony’s main gate, one of the thousands of labourers who have shifted here since Thursday last.The exodus left Moti Khavdi deserted. ‘‘We do not want any outsider in the village. They are a big nuisance,’’ fumed village vice-sarpanch Hemubha Jadeja.If locals are not ready to welcome their former tenants again, labourers too do not wish to return to the village. ‘‘We will leave Jamnagar rather than returning to the village. We were ill treated and beaten up without any reason,’’ said a labourer Laxman Yadav. ‘‘All these years there were frictions, but we can not tolerate it any more. They do not know how to behave, how to talk, how to dress. Given the increasing number of harassment cases, we realised females were not at all safe in their presence,’’ said Jagu Bharwad. ‘‘They would call us chor and goonda and pick up fights without any reason,’’ said Laxmansinh. ‘‘Rent was our major source of income. But security comes first,’’ reasoned a youth.Jadeja said,‘‘We will call a meeting of the village panchayat to discuss the issue and so far we are unanimous in not allowing them back to the village.
