The city pavements house 50,000 people, mostly construction workers. Rules exist for their homes: Why don’t the authorities follow them?
While Mumbaikars ponder whether Alistair Periera got away with murder, more accidents are waiting to happen on the city’s pavements. They house 50,000 people, mostly construction workers. Rules exist for their homes: Why don’t the authorities follow them?
The wannabe world-class city has no place for these workers, many of whom have helped build the city brick-by-brick. Conservative estimates put the number of construction workers in the city at 1 lakh (there are 20 lakh workers in the state). Despite the informal sector — that employs these workers — contributing substantially to the state’s gross domestic product, (nation-wide contribution is 6.2 per cent to the GDP) the workers enjoy no work benefits and lead a miserable life. Female workers constitute 49-50 per cent of the workforce.
Is there an alternative? Yes. The state has been dilly-dallying with the implementation of an 11-year-old Building & Other Construction Workers Welfare Act, formulated by the Central Government, even as seven states — Delhi, Pondicherry, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal — have implemented it.
The act lays down conditions for safety, health, working hours, welfare, wages, for construction workers. “The state is unnecessarily delaying the act’s implementation,” says Aarti Salve, an activist who has been forwarding the cause of unorganised labourers. Officials from the Labour Welfare Ministry said they were finalising the fine print for the Act’s implementation, but activists from the Construction Workers Union, a union working for the rights of 20 lakh construction workers in the state, allege that the state has been claiming the same for years now. It is probably waiting for some more deaths of stray labourers, before it is forced to use the act.
Salve remarks, “City’s development plan has reservations for rickshaw and bus stands, fish and vegetable markets, schools, playgrounds and dumping sites but gives no facilities to construction workers. Many of them starve for 6 to 7 days a week when they have no work. Yet we call ourselves the country’s financial nerve.” State Labour Commissioner BD Sanap conceded that the implementation had suffered procedural delays. He assured that it will be put to use in two months.
Labour Minister Ganesh Naik said the state had introduced a group insurance scheme for the welfare of the workers. The workers will be required to pay Rs50 for a year to avail of the scheme.
What does the Act mandate?
For the constitution of a welfare board, comprising of representatives of the government, unions and workers, which will work towards providing medical facilities, pension, family pension, advance for purchase or construction of house, loan for purchasing tools, financial assistance for education, for marriage, immediate assistance in case of worker’s accident, maternity benefit, death benefit, etc. to registered workers. It provides for cess collection on construction cost from the construction industry to fund these benefits.
Accident-prone industry
The rate of fatality in the construction industry is very high in comparison to the other industries. Out of 1,000 deaths, close to 160 are those of construction workers. In a major rally organised by the Construction Workers’ Union, workers stressed on the need for adequate investment in working conditions for workers, mainly in terms of job security, safety, fair conditions and skill development. “The state is avoiding its primary responsibility to meet basic needs of workers and inviting more accidents,” union workers maintained.
Demands of construction workers’ union
- Collect 2% cess from the construction industry for workers’ welfare and social security.
- Register construction workers and provide them identity proofs.
- Every worker must enjoy pension and unemployment allowances. They must be covered under a group insurance scheme.
- Maternity benefits for female workers.
- Loan facility for buying houses, special schemes for educating the workers’ children.
- Sheds for construction and naka workers at sites.
- Enroll workers in the below the poverty (BPL) list.
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