We
are not a society known for concern about the conditions
of our workers. Most of the men and women whose toil
ensures our much-touted economic growth are more or
less invisible to the elites and middle classes, even
when they are directly produce essential goods and services
right under our noses. And so we are largely indifferent
to changes in their wages and working conditions and
only intermittently concerned about their basic safety.
Take the case of construction workers, whose numbers
have recently multiplied in the capital city of Delhi
because of the rush to complete a large number of new
projects (at the various Games sites, for the expanding
Delhi Metro, extensions to the airport, new hotels and
malls and so on) before the Commonwealth Games to be
held in October 2010. The Delhi Human Development Report
of 2006 suggested that there were around 2 to 3 lakh
construction workers in Delhi, but there are recent
estimates suggesting anywhere between 8 and 10 lakh
workers.
It is hard to know how many there are for sure, because
most of these workers are recent migrants brought in
by contractors and the system of registration of such
workers has been lax and ineffective. The Commonwealth
Games projects alone are employing around 1 lakh workers,
less than expected because construction technology is
now much more capital-intensive.
It takes a major accident – such as the collapse of
a concrete pillar being constructed for the metro at
Zamrudpur in South Delhi on 12 July when six people
died - to bring media attention to the inadequate safety
procedures at the various construction sites. Yet the
concern is still mainly for passers-by and local residents
rather than the workers who are most at risk. In 2009
so far, at least 43 deaths and 96 injuries of workers
at construction sites have been officially reported.
The actual numbers are likely to be much larger because
many accidents and casualties never get reported, and
even workers are reluctant to talk about them.
After the unfortunate experience of exploitation of
construction workers before the Asian Games held in
Delhi in 1982, some citizens of Delhi wanted to make
sure this did not happen again this time round. A coalition
of Citizens for Workers, Women and Children (CWG-CWC)
was formed, to monitor conditions of construction workers
before the Commonwealth Games and to mobilise for ensuring
their rights. Despite constant efforts to highlight
the inadequate safety provisions and poor working arrangements
at the sites and the dire living conditions of the workers,
the coalition generally meets with official resistance
and public apathy.
This is despite the fact that, at least on paper, Delhi’s
construction workers are supposedly well served. In
1996, after a prolonged struggle, two national laws
were passed by Parliament: The Building and Other Construction
Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of
Service) Act, 1996 and the Building and Other Construction
Workers' Welfare Cess Act 1996. In Delhi, this was finally
notified six years later as the Delhi Building and Other
Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions
of Service) Rules, 2002.
This in turn required the formation of the Delhi Building
and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (with the
unwieldy acronym DBOCWWB), which was also constituted
in September 2002. This Board is supposed to ensure
that the law is fully implemented, which involves among
other things, the enforcement of rigorous safety norms,
the registration of all construction workers and provision
of social security benefits to them on the basis of
a cess collected for that purpose.
Despite all this legal and administrative process, precious
little has actually happened to benefit workers on the
ground. The Board meets rarely and lacks the administrative
staff to actually do any real work. However, if the
Labour Commissioner takes the initiative, the Board
can be activated and the pace of implementation can
be accelerated. The post, however, has seen many occupants
with an average tenure of 6-8 months, and has been vacant
for the last one year. The Labour Minister is the Chairperson
of the Board and its functioning actually depends on
the willingness and ability of the Chairperson. It is
worth noting that the previous Labour Minister for Delhi,
Mangat Ram Singhal, whose last term was not marked by
much activity, has again been given this portfolio.
As a result, thus far the results have been negligible.
The Act specifically provides for various safety procedures
that need to be followed at every site, with respect
to safety equipment, training, inspection and inquiry.
There are supposed to be safety committees with worker
representation and qualified safety officers for every
establishment employing 500 or more workers. But there
are no monitoring mechanisms in place to ensure that
these provisions are being followed, and it is likely
that none of these provisions of the Act has actually
been followed in any of the construction sites. Meanwhile,
workers’ complaints about the quality and safety of
the machinery and material they use have been regularly
ignored, even after major accidents have exposed the
truth of their arguments in any one site. In addition,
the provision of basic facilities on site as mandated
by the law (such as drinking water, toilets and crèches)
has been completely inadequate.
Other measures that are supposed to benefit workers
have also not been implemented. The registration of
construction workers has been tardy, partial and inadequate,
and most workers are still not registered. Indeed, only
a handful of workers have even heard about the Act or
the benefits from registration. Only 18,000 workers
in Delhi have registered with the Board and only around
10 per cent of them are ''live'' registrations. Even those
who had registered earlier have not bothered to renew
because there are no apparent benefits and the onus
is on the worker not the employer to renew. Workers
are forced to pay an amount every month simply to remain
registered, but the benefits of registration – including
temporary ration cards for use in Delhi, pensions and
social security, access to health and life insurance,
scholarships for children, and so on – are therefore
simply not available.
To take just one example, in November 2007 the Chief
Minister of Delhi distributed some temporary ration
cards to newly registered construction workers amid
much fanfare. But once the initial blaze of publicity
had been achieved, the allocation of such ration cards
completely dried up. In fact, temporary ration cards
have still not been issued to the vast majority of registered
workers, although this is essential for workers’ families
to survive in the context of rapidly rising food prices.
Similarly, the promise of scholarships of Rs 100 per
month to two school-going children of every registered
construction worker was approved by the Board in February
2008. But finally less than 20 such scholarships were
provided, and those also were given only after schools
had closed for the summer vacations.
In the circumstances, with no apparent benefits of registration
at all, construction workers feel much less inclined
to bother to register at all. And that in turn means
that the cess that has been collected is lying unused.
More than Rs 300 crore has been collected, but less
than Rs 10 lakh has been spent: on three crèches
for 150 children; one accident compensation and life
insurance premia for less than 100 workers. This fund
is supposed to be used to ensure provision of maternity
and medical benefits, pension for disabled and old workers
and dependants, accident and death compensation, financial
assistance for education of children, marriage assistance,
and so on. Surely no one can argue that these are no
longer necessary for the workers, yet the money is lying
unspent.
But of course all that money lying around attracts other
bees around this potential honey pot. So it is now proposed
to be diverted, in a completely unacceptable manner,
to other uses that are not sanctioned by the law and
effectively subsidise the contractors and builders without
providing any benefit to the workers themselves.
The major new idea that has been suggested by some officials
to use up this money is an outlandish proposal to create
''holding areas'' to house migrant workers, in which temporary
tenements in distant location, using panchayat lands,
would be created to house migrant workers in separate
hostels for men and women. It is proposed to spend about
Rs 80 crore from the Cess Fund on such holding areas,
in a cost-sharing arrangement in which the private parties
have to cough up only a quarter of the total costs and
money meant for the workers will account for half.
This proposal is absolutely amazing for several reasons.
First, it completely absolves the contractors from any
responsibility for housing the workers, even though
such housing is a legal requirement of the contractors
and is even built into the costs of all these construction
projects. This is not only forgiving those contractors
who have deliberately flouted the law, but effectively
subsidising them further under the pretext of helping
workers.
In any case, the number of intended beneficiaries is
between 6000 and 9000, only a tiny fraction of the actual
number of migrant construction workers who need housing.
And they are proposed to be housed in three story barracks
that flout all the building by-laws, because there will
be no space for essential facilities like community
kitchens, community toilets, crèches, etc. Workers
will have to travel great distances to reach the construction
sites. Meanwhile their families will be broken up, because
men and women are to be accommodated separately!
So what is the point of moving workers to these tenements
in far-flung locations at great inconvenience to themselves?
It is hard not to smell something fishy in all this,
because this essentially involves a change in the land
use norms. The chances are very high that the holding
areas will eventually be turned into slums without proper
urban amenities, and pass into private hands. While
this may benefit the building lobbies in the city, it
is hard to think how it could possibly benefit the workers.
When this proposal came up before the Board, it was
objected to and put on hold – but it is reliably suggested
that officials are still going ahead with this completely
unacceptable plan. And unless there is sufficient public
outcry over this and over the denial of the basic legal
rights of workers, it is likely to become a fait accompli.
The irony is that all this exploitation and misuse is
being carried out in the name of finishing projects
before the Commonwealth Games. Yet the official mandate
of the Commonwealth Games Federation is ''Humanity, Equality,
Destiny''. Sadly, the officials who are so anxious to
ensure that the country presents a shining face to the
world during these games do not seem to be aware that
the process they have chosen is already making a travesty
of its basic intent.
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