Forced labour at Commonwealth Games site alleged
A civil rights group in its report has said that thousands of workers engaged in Commonwealth Games Village site in Delhi are not being paid even the legally stipulated minimum wages. According to Article 23 of the country's Constitution and a Supreme Court ruling, this amounts to begaar or forced labour.
New Delhi: Private firms and contractors at Commonwealth Games Village site near Akshardham Temple on the banks of the Yamuna River in east Delhi are violating all labour laws with impunity.
Enforcement agencies like the Labour Department, Welfare Board, Police and other agencies of the government have turned a blind eye and are least bothered about protecting the rights of the marginalised workers, alleges a fact-finding report released last week by Delhi-based People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR).
There are no definitive figures available about the number of workers working at the site. Trade unions active among workers have different numbers, individual workers give their own estimates and the labour office maintains its own set of segregated figures divided in categories of unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers. These vary from 4,000 to 15,000.
A PUDR representative informed that no outsider was allowed to enter the site. It was protected like a ‘citadel’. When team members tried to enter the worksite to gather information about the living and working conditions, they were ‘manhandled’ and ‘thrown out’, she informed.
In December last year, an accident had occurred at the residential block in which a worker, Shailendra Kumar, had died when a crane fell on him. He was working for Ahluwalia Contracts. Another person, Manish had also sustained injuries. Workers began protesting and the work was stalled for two days. After much negotiation, two unions that are active there were able to secure a compensation of Rs 500,000 for the family of Shailedra.
Workers claim that 70 to 200 labourers have died at this site due to work-related mishaps since the work began here last year.
Amjad Hassan, general secretary of Delhi Asangthit Nirman Mazdoor Union, said they could easily count at least 20 fatal accidents having taken place at this site alone. There have been instances of a few workers dying of varying ailments, which happens because of unhygienic living conditions in camps, he added.
PUDR’s Shashi Saxena said that there was no way of “proving or disproving these claims or verifying the numbers of those dead or injured since the site is enclosed within high walls with heavy security at the gates.”
Dismal living conditions
Workers describe the camps they live in as murgi-khana (shed where chickens are kept). There is electricity but no fans; no place to keep their luggage safely; no safe drinking water; overcrowded 10X10 feet rooms with brick walls and corrugated tin roofs without proper doors; three-tiered beds made of plywood; no separate place for cooking; and no bathrooms or toilets. There are also large dormitories that are always brimming with people.
There is a grocery shop in the camp. Since workers are not paid their wages in time they have no option but to buy essential commodities from here on credit. Each of the items sold here is over priced – wheat is Rs 15 per kg; rice Rs 20; milk Rs 15 for half a litre; raw egg Rs 5; and a local call costs Rs 8.
There is a clinic at the worksite but the doctor who sits there has only one medicine to give for all kinds of ailments, informed Shashi.
No minimum wages
It has been noted that not a single worker at this site is being paid the legally stipulated wages. Overtime is paid for extra hours of work but the rates are much less.
Workers are made the payment on monthly basis but the first salary is given only after 45 days of work. The contractor keeps the first 30 days’ wages as ‘security deposit’ and then he also deducts five days’ dues every month.
In contravention of the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976, female workers are paid lesser wages than their male counterparts.
PUDR has alleged that the profits earned annually by contractors on account of non-payment of minimum wages run into millions of rupees.
Commonwealth Games
Indian capital will be holding the Commonwealth Games in October 2010. The central government has earmarked Rs 52 billion for creating infrastructural facilities in the city that is going to host players from 85 participating nations.
Some of the major projects that are undertaken in the capital include the building and revamping of Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex, Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex, Talkatora Indoor Stadium, Dwarka Convenntion Centre, Siri Fort Stadium Complex, Thyagraj Stadium, National Stadium, Shivaji Stadium, etc.
These projects have been assigned to different government authorities like the Central Public Works Department, Delhi Development Authority, New Delhi Municipal Corporation, etc., who in turn have contracted national and multinational companies for physical execution of these projects.
Union leader Amjad Hassan said that he receives similar complaints from other worksites.
“No labour department, no government ministry, no political party is bothered about the plight of workers. For them holding these games is a matter of national pride. But we say that such widespread exploitation and rampant violation of workers’ rights is a matter of national shame,” he added.
