Post Wayanad floods, Harrisons Malayalam Builds Nearly 100 Residences for Workers

KALPETTA:
Agriculture business corporation Harrisons Malayalam has provided 95 residences for its plantation workers who lost shelter in the end-July Wayanad landslips, by renovating unused quarters and equipping them with essential amenities.

The Kochi-headquartered Harrisons had initiated rehabilitation efforts for its labourers after the devastating floods abetted in early August, with focus on providing houses to 127 families of the company’s tea-plantation workers affected by the disaster.

The company gave them houses by undertaking repairs at a set of quarters that had been remaining unoccupied. Each family was given a kit of daily-use items and utensils for free. The workers were soon settled in Arrapetta, Chundale and Achoor estates. As of now, 45 families have shifted to the new locations.

The moves came doubly beneficial to the workers, who were facing difficulty in getting rented houses following a governmental decision to refund rents of those who lost their homes in the Chooralmala disaster.

The floods had prompted 40 workers to request for a shift in job to other plantations of the company. At this, Harrisons facilitated their relocation to Arrapetta and Chundale estates. The dependents of the deceased workers were offered permanent jobs; the company has already employed three of them. Apart from these, Harrisons introduced systems such as counselling for those suffering from mental stress following the disaster.

Last week, the company had announced its success in reviving the post-flood plantations of Wayanad, by raising the number of labourers in the tea estates of the hill district rose by five per cent to 40 per cent during the past two months.

Harrisons Malayalam, which has a history of 150 years, is one of south India’s largest producers of tea and the country’s biggest cultivator of natural rubber as well as pineapples.