CHENNAI: Have you noticed the ‘October Fest’ in Besant Nagar and some other pockets of the city? The long queues in front of pandals, the smell of the delicious Kolkata street food, the poetry sessions going late into the night — a hint of Bengal right at the heart of Chennai. The seemingly ‘foreign’ environment is an indicator of the growing influx of Bengalis. Data on mother language released recently by Census 2011 shows the Bengali population in Tamil Nadu has increased by 160% between 2001 and 2011. Since then, the trend has only accelerated.Contributing to Tamil Nadu’s cosmopolitan tapestry of culture, languages and foods, the census showed that during the 10-year period people the number of Bengalis increased from 8,805 to 22,969. Following close behind were Hindi speakers, whose numbers went up from 1.89 lakh in 2001 to 3.93 lakh in 2011. Since the migration of people from West Bengal, north and northeast states is due to availability of employment, the trend in migration is an indicator of the state’s good economic health and its ability to create job opportunities in a range of industries and positions.The boom in information technology and automobile industries brought in a large number of educated middle-class to the city. Since construction of IT parks and private establishments accelerated, daily wage workers in the realty sector also found work here. "The migration is not just from Kolkata or nearby districts, but from over West Bengal as well as from north-eastern states. And jobs have been available for all strata of society. A small indicator is that now I find non-Tamil waiters in almost all hotels in Chennai," said Madhumita Chatterjee, executive member of South Madras Cultural Association. While people employed in big companies settle in Chennai or other Tier-II cities on their own, workers in hotels or in the construction sector come through contractors.According to a migrant worker survey in 2016, 20.9% of migrant workers in Tamil Nadu live in Chennai and Kancheepuram, being employed in firms such as Ford, Hyundai, BMW and Nissan. The top three districts —Kancheepuram, Chennai and Tiruvallur — are home to 51.3% of the migrant worker population.Since textile and allied industries too are the other popular sectors, employing 1.5 lakh workers, Coimbatore has 12.1% and Tirupur 9% of the state’s migrant population. Manufacturing companies, real estate projects and metro rail work have also attracted workers in the past few years. Workers from north and eastern states are preferred, especially in construction business, say contractors. "While local workers start work at 9.30am and complete it at 5.30pm and get a pay of Rs800 per day. Workers from states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal work from 7am till 7pm, get Rs500 per day and food. They are also allowed to stay on the premises," said Ponn Kumar former head of Construction Workers Welfare Board.The arrangement is mutually beneficial, as despite the relative lower pay migrant workers still get more than what they make back home. "We work for six months and send home not less than Rs8,000 to Rs10,000 per month. After six months we go back to our native place," said M Barman, a construction worker from North 24 Parganas in West Bengal.Though the numbers of non-Tamil native speakers may have increased, the Tamil population percentage has not changed in the past decade. "Many people from southern districts of Tamil Nadu have migrated to Chennai and suburban areas and are employed in white as well as blue collar jobs, Similarly Tamils from other states who went for jobs there have also returned to their native," said international population expert P Arokiasamy.