Where have local hamalis gone?

Hamalis from Bihar, Jharkhand and other states power Telangana

T P Venu I hyderabad

In 2020 during lockdown, the Telangana Government and rice millers were waiting for nearly 20,000 hamalis from Bihar to complete the paddy procurement operations. Cut to 2026: Telangana CM Revanth Reddy blamed the delay in procurement to labour shortage-migrant labourers from West Bengal had returned to their state during recent elections and for several other reasons labourers from Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha and parts of Uttar Pradesh too left the state paralysing the procurement logistics.

Why is the Government not taking steps? Where are local hamalis? Why should Telangana always depend on hamalis from other states? The government has to do some serious thinking,” quips V Mohan Reddy, 

General Secretary, Telangana Rice Millers Association. He further adds, there was a time some 20-odd years ago, all the work in Siddipet was done by locals, but not anymore.

Before the Biharis and migrant labour from West Bengal and Odisha, it was labour from Maharashtra hamalis but as production increased in Maharashtra they stopped coming says, Krishna Rao, a farmer from Gajwel.

There are 20,000 hamalis from Bihar alone in Telangana engaged in loading, unloading, bagging and transport work at paddy procurement centres, rice mills and FCI godowns. Telangana witnessed record paddy production this season, with cultivation spread across nearly 65 lakh acres and output estimated at 141 lakh metric tonnes. 

Rice mills and procurement centres across districts such as Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Nalgonda rely substantially on migrant hamalis from Bihar.

Raju, a farmer form Chintamadaka village in Siddipet says, “The youth are no longer interested in hamali work. There want easy money. Many are seen whiling away time sith the mobile phone. It is distressing.”

Call for Hamali Board

Civil society groups and activists across Telangana have urged Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to immediately constitute a Hamali Welfare Board for over 10 lakh workers. Referring to the Congress 2023 manifesto, they sought health cards, social security, fair wages, PF, ESI, housing and ‘Hamali Nagars’ in mandal centres.

Signatories include Prof. Haragopal, Dr. K. Babu Rao, V. Sandhya and Ruchit Asha Kamal. Activists noted that 2026 marks 50 years of the Telangana Mutta, Jattu, Hamal and Other Manual Workers Act, 1976, mandating a Welfare Board. The appeal was initiated by the National Alliance of People’s Movements and Telangana People’s Joint Action Committee.