CWG construction workers denied basic rights: Report

NEW DELHI - Construction workers at Commonwealth Games (CWG) sites get paid much lower than the minimum stipulated by law and there is no provision for safety gear for them or even hygienic living conditions, according to a report by the Peoples’ Union of Democratic Rights (PUDR) Monday.

“Workers continue to be paid wages of Rs.110-130 - far less than the minimum stipulated by law which is Rs.203. Calculations made by PUDR informed that the contractors are saving approximately Rs.75-85 from each worker per day. Almost all the workers are working 10 hours daily with no overtime or no weekly off,” the follow-up report on the violations of workers’ rights stated.

According to Moushami Basu, secretary, PUDR, as far as providing safety gear and hygiene conditions are concerned, there has been no work in that direction. Large pits are there, which are breeding grounds for mosquitoes, and the children and other family members of these workers live in such threatening conditions.

“It is a denial of their basic rights,” said Basu.

Showing pictures of huge pits with dirty stagnant water at the sites, workers climbing on top of poles and other high structures with no helmets or belts or other safety gear, Basu highlighted the irregularities in the Games construction sites.

“One worker died in Jawaharlal Nehru stadium recently, but nobody mentioned about it. The PM even visited this stadium but this incident was not even talked about. This gives out the message that death of a worker has no value,” added Basu.

The first PUDR report April 24, 2009 which came out with similar findings on the Games construction site located near the Akshardham temple caused a stir. The high court on Jan 20 took a stand on the PUDR’s public interest litigation (PIL) filed in the court. The high court issued notice to form a committee on the matter.

“The report of the monitoring committee mentioned denial of minimum wages, absence of a principal employer to certify if the wages have been paid to the workers, in most of the sites there were no employment or identity cards given to the workers,” stated the monitoring committee’s report.

On April 7, the high court ordered that the recommendations of disbursing the wages, assigning of a principal employer, applying of the minimum wages act, clearing of all the disparity between the minimum wages rates etc be implemented straightaway.

“It kept on dragging, the authorities promised to file a reply within 3-4 days of the high court order but to no avail. On July 7, the court called upon all the concerned authorities again to complete formalities regarding registration of workers and issuing of passbooks. But the ground reality still remains that nothing is being done,” concluded Shashi Saxena, member PUDR.