News Analysis India

Tag: Labourers

  • Labourers hired for Modi’s event in Bengaluru allege non-payment of dues

    By IANS

    BENGALURU: Labourers who were hired to work for the unveiling of the 108-foot-tall statue of Bengaluru’s founder Nadaprabhu Kempegowda by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 11 have lodged a police complaint alleging that they have not been paid their dues.

    The complaint has been lodged by 40 labourers at Sidlaghatta police station in Chikkaballapur district against local BJP leader Nandeesh.

    According to the police, the workers were hired to work at the venue of the statue on the premises of Bengaluru International Airport.

    It has been alleged that Nandeesh had promised to pay Rs 500 to each worker, but offered to pay only Rs 100 after the completion of the programme.

    The police are probing the matter.

    BENGALURU: Labourers who were hired to work for the unveiling of the 108-foot-tall statue of Bengaluru’s founder Nadaprabhu Kempegowda by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 11 have lodged a police complaint alleging that they have not been paid their dues.

    The complaint has been lodged by 40 labourers at Sidlaghatta police station in Chikkaballapur district against local BJP leader Nandeesh.

    According to the police, the workers were hired to work at the venue of the statue on the premises of Bengaluru International Airport.

    It has been alleged that Nandeesh had promised to pay Rs 500 to each worker, but offered to pay only Rs 100 after the completion of the programme.

    The police are probing the matter.

  • Two more Assam labourers rescued in Arunachal

    By Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: Two more missing construction labourers from Assam were rescued from Kurung Kumey district of Arunachal Pradesh.

    District Magistrate Nighee Bengia said Kholebuddin Sheikh (27) and Shamidul Sheikh (19) were rescued in critical condition by the State Disaster Response Force and locals from a jungle between Huri to Tapa at around 1:30 pm on Sunday. With these, 10 of the 19 missing workers have been rescued so far.

    “The two were first brought to SBI camp, Huri for first aid. Later, they were taken to the PHC, Damin. They are very serious and likely to be evacuated to Naharlagun or Koloriang district hospital,” Bengia said.

    He said the members of the rescue team returned by the evening due to the threat of poisonous snakes in the jungle. However, he added, the operation would be resumed on Monday to rescue the remaining others.

    “As per the statements of the two rescued persons, they left four persons, who were critical and could not walk in the forest, behind them,” the DM said. He said an IAF chopper could not conduct the search operation on Sunday due to inclement weather.

    The 19 workers, mostly Muslims, were engaged in the construction of a road from Huri to the China border and they had fled their camp on July 19, ostensibly after being denied leave to go home for Eid.

    GUWAHATI: Two more missing construction labourers from Assam were rescued from Kurung Kumey district of Arunachal Pradesh.

    District Magistrate Nighee Bengia said Kholebuddin Sheikh (27) and Shamidul Sheikh (19) were rescued in critical condition by the State Disaster Response Force and locals from a jungle between Huri to Tapa at around 1:30 pm on Sunday. With these, 10 of the 19 missing workers have been rescued so far.

    “The two were first brought to SBI camp, Huri for first aid. Later, they were taken to the PHC, Damin. They are very serious and likely to be evacuated to Naharlagun or Koloriang district hospital,” Bengia said.

    He said the members of the rescue team returned by the evening due to the threat of poisonous snakes in the jungle. However, he added, the operation would be resumed on Monday to rescue the remaining others.

    “As per the statements of the two rescued persons, they left four persons, who were critical and could not walk in the forest, behind them,” the DM said. He said an IAF chopper could not conduct the search operation on Sunday due to inclement weather.

    The 19 workers, mostly Muslims, were engaged in the construction of a road from Huri to the China border and they had fled their camp on July 19, ostensibly after being denied leave to go home for Eid.

  • ‘Lifesaver for labourers’: Gujarat govt praises MGNREGA scheme’s role in helping migrants during pandemic

    By PTI
    AHMEDABAD: The BJP government in Gujarat has hailed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme as a “lifesaver” for the migrant workers, who returned to their native villages in the state due to the lockdown last year.

    The state government praised the scheme in its report ‘Implications of COVID-19 on Gujarat on Energy, Emissions, Climate and Development Perspectives’, which was released by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani last Saturday on the occasion of World Environment Day.

    MGNREGA is the Centre’s work guarantee scheme for rural people with predetermined minimum wage.

    It was launched by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2006.

    “The MGNREGA scheme of guaranteed employment has been a lifesaver for labourers, compelled to return to their homes following the COVID-19 pandemic,” the report said.

    Although in comparison to what these migrants were earning in cities, the wages under MGNREGA are minimum, they still consider it to be sufficient to sustain their families during such crisis situations induced by COVID-19, it said.

    “Under the MGNREGA, the minimum wage paid is Rs 224 per day, which has been increased from earlier wage of Rs 198 per day. On a brighter note, living in their own village made them save more money, which otherwise was spent in travelling and rents,” said the report, which was prepared by the state’s climate change department together with IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Gandhinagar.

    The report cited the “positive role of MGNREGA in helping people vulnerable to pandemic sustain livelihood” through examples of villages in tribal-dominated Dahod district, which offered the largest number of employment under the scheme during that time.

    A contractual worker managed to enrol himself to MGNREGA, and “although the maize cultivated on his small farm was sufficient to feed his family, employment under MGNREGA provided him with a better livelihood support, it said.

    However, skilled workers in a village called Pavdi in the same district, despite being pleased to have some source of income support through MGNREGA, were still hoping for the factories to resume operation.

    Insufficient use of their skill under the minimum wages programme was their major concern, said the report.

    Dahod district (2.38 lakh – number of labourers engaged under MGNREGA) reported the highest labourer engagement under MGNREGA, followed by Bhavnagar (77,659) and Narmada (59,208), the report said.

    A majority of the projects were under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and state’s Sujalam Sufalam Jal Sanchay Yojana.

    The report called for “re-strategizing” the MGNREGA to include “skill-mapping, long-term risk coverage and income assurance” as a crucial policy response towards prioritising agriculture as a part of the solution when it comes to migration.

    It said so while highlighting how agriculture was able to “cushion migrant workers from the COVID-19 crisis by providing them with some subsistence earnings” and their return “helped in managing shortage of agricultural labourers.”

    Citing the example of Saurashtra, where several migrants working in diamond polishing units in Surat returned during the lockdown, the report said they engaged themselves with land tilling activities and as farm labourers.

    The report also suggested that the government should allow wage increase to match the demand for labour in the agricultural sector with that of the migrant labourers.

    “Agriculture should be prioritised as a part of the solution and should not be overlooked when it comes to migration. There is a need for a long-term strategy that takes into account underlying causes of migration including the links between agricultural policies and causes for migration,” it said.

  • Labourers’ strike hits work on double-tube Banihal-Qazigund tunnel in J&K

    By PTI
    JAMMU: Hundreds of labourers went on a sudden strike on Tuesday, affecting the ongoing work on the double-tube 8.5-km Banihal-Qazigund tunnel along the 270-km Jammu-Srinagar national highway, officials said.

    The tunnel is nearing completion and is expected to be opened for public use by March-end.

    “Local labourers stayed away from work and also did not allow any type of work by skilled and unskilled non-local workers in the morning,” an official said.

    He said the labourers are agitated over wages that are pending since August last year, although officials of the private construction company have claimed that the firm has already paid the money to the contractor concerned and there is no pendency of wages towards the labour force.

    Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Banihal, Zaheer Abbas and Station House Officer (SHO), Banihal Nayeem-Ul-Haq met the protesting labourers, but they refused to resume work till the payment was made to them, the official said.

    He said efforts are on to resolve the issue to ensure an early restoration of the work at the prestigious project.

    The work on the Rs 2,100-crore project was started in June 2011 by the Navayuga Engineering Company.

    Once completed, the tunnel would reduce the distance between Banihal in Jammu province and Qazigund in south Kashmir to 16 km from the present 35 km and bypass the Jawahar Tunnel and the Shaitan Nalla, which are prone to heavy snowfall and slippery conditions during winters.

    The work on the project was delayed for several reasons in the last 10 years and many deadlines were missed due to the unexpected land condition inside the tunnel, alleged financial crisis in the construction company and certain issues related to local landlords and company workers.