----- Forwarded Message ---- From: PUDR Delhi <[email protected]> To: activist PUDR <[email protected]> Cc: Friends of PUDR <[email protected]> Sent: Thu, 21 October, 2010 10:51:29 Subject: [pudr-info] Fwd: Timesofindia.com: Games labour lost: Workers denied dues Todays TOI covered a nice story on violation during the CWG. Games labour lost: Workers denied duesAmbika Pandit, TNN, Oct 21, 2010, 12.06am IST NEW DELHI: They toiled in the sun and rain without any complaints against the inhuman conditions they worked in, and against a clock fast ticking away. From different corners of the country, over 70,500 labourers worked their hearts out in a rather chaotic run-up to the Commonwealth Games to put together the impressive infrastructure in the capital. But now that the Games are over, they have been forgotten, driven out of the city to give it a world-class look. Activists are now alleging gross irregularities in the payment of minimum wages at various Games sites. Highlighting violation of labour laws, human rights bodies and trade unions are demanding an investigation into hundreds of crores illegally pocketed by contractors and agencies in-charge of many projects. The Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), which has carried out a series of surveys at Games sites between 2009 and 2010 and is behind the PIL on construction workers in Delhi high court, said that contractors and many government agencies have flouted labour laws by not paying minimum wages to the workers. It named DDA, CPWD, MCD, NDMC, PWD, DMRC, University of Delhi, and private contractors among the violators. "Our investigations show that workers continued to be paid between Rs 110 and Rs 130 per day instead of the stipulated minimum wage of Rs 203. At some sites, they were paid a weekly kharcha of Rs 300-400 while the rest of the wages were pocketed by the contractors,'' said Moushumi Basu from PUDR. PUDR claims to have reported these violations from various sites, including Delhi University, Shivaji Stadium, RK Khanna Stadium, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and the Commonwealth Games Village. It alleged that the state government instead of addressing workers' problems indulged in mere tokenism. "The welfare board's registration camps were nothing but farce. Workers were not informed beforehand about documents required. For a camp scheduled for only a few hours, the officials from the labour department used to reach the site 1-2 hours late and that too absolutely unprepared. No notary used to be present to prepare affidavits for the workers,'' noted PUDR after one of its teams visited a construction site. The fact that chief minister Sheila Dikshit and the Union labour ministry have chosen not to comment even once on the issue indicates their total apathy towards workers and their constitutionally guaranteed right, alleged an activist from PUDR. "Workers who toiled day and night to get the Games infrastructure ready on time have obviously not benefited from this manufactured outpouring of national pride,'' asserts Dunu Roy from the Hazards Centre. When Times City visited Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies, it found some resonance in the claims after meeting some labourers who were disenchanted by the treatment meted out to them. Hiding behind the pretty view-cutters, 30 families from a poverty-stricken village in Jhansi were a disillusioned lot. "After all, we haven't gained much,'' complained Sonu Kumar, one of the workers. All these families were engaged in laying pavements along the stretch leading up to the stadium. He says that during the Games they all took refuge behind view-cutters, away from the preying eyes of the policemen and the constant gaze of thousands of visitors. Anita, another labourer, points out that she was paid a mere Rs 130 a day as an unskilled labourer while the minimum wage is Rs 203. Anita's husband, Ram Prasad, a mason, was paid Rs 200 a day which is also less than the stipulated Rs 248 for skilled labour. They further revealed that their wages were held back and released in phases by the contractor. None of them has a clue about social security schemes for labourers and medical facilities and no one from the agency in charge had bothered to tell them about their dues. "Attention needs to be drawn to the more severe impact of the Games that has largely been ignored. Serious human rights violations, especially of construction workers who have been denied minimum wages and decent working conditions, of the homeless and beggars who have been arrested, detained and forcefully banished from the city, of women and children who have been trafficked, of over 300,000 street vendors who have been denied their right to work and are going hungry, and of slum-dwellers who have been evicted for the Games,'' Miloon Kothari from Housing and Land Rights Network points. Read more: Games labour lost: Workers denied dues - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Games-labour-lost-Workers-denied-dues/articleshow/6783178.cms#ixzz12y4Bt2j4 Read more: Games labour lost: Workers denied dues - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Games-labour-lost-Workers-denied-dues/articleshow/6783178.cms#ixzz12y43q71Z ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: [email protected] <[email protected]> Date: 21 October 2010 10:48 Subject: Timesofindia.com: Games labour lost: Workers denied dues To: [email protected] This page was sent to you by: paramjeet, [email protected] -------------------------------- Games labour lost: Workers denied dues They toiled in the sun and rain without any complaints against the inhuman conditions they worked in, and against a clock fast ticking away. 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