[Reader-list] Migrant workers on IT corridor fourth posting

[venkat t]

Migrant workers on IT corridor fourth posting

This months posting is in three parts, first a status report and the
work over the next 2 weeks, second a excerpts from an occupational
health and safety workshop that I attended and third a write up on an
interview we had with project manager of a construction firm entrusted
with constructing the duct laying works on the IT express way.

At the middle of the project duration, we are not yet half way, with
the research work. we have identified, 5 sites where the migrant
workers are being camped, of these 2 or camp cum work site, 2 are
exclusive residential camps, and one is a temporary residential area
on the side of OMR (Old Mahabalipuram Road). We have been speaking to
a number of workers on these sites. We have also interviewed
subcontractors, supervisors and one project manager. Apart from this
we have been reading into the laws and regulations that govern the
Migrant contract labourers working on the IT corridor.

In the next 2 weeks we intend to visit the sites we have already
identified, as well as identify three more camps with fairly large
number of Migrant workers. Especially places where the migrant workers
have housed themselves on tenancy with local land owners

I had been to an 'Occupational health and safety' workshop in the last
week of may, in Chennai. It was organised in order improve the
awareness about the various forms of occupation health hazards, the
safety measure that needs to be put in place as well as the remedial
and compensations available to workers. This workshop was organised
for active members of various unorganised workers unions.

Some of the occupational hazards that were outlined in the workshop
session, were, hazards due to i. Physical causes, ii. Chemical causes
iii. Mechanical, iv. Biological causes and v. Psycho social causes.

In relation to what we have seen in the worksites and the residential
camps, we can conclude that the workers are exposed to every form of
hazard. The workers on the construction site as well as the road work,
have been exposed to the indiscriminate heat and sun light of
Chennai's summer. The work on the road was hampered a bit due to
technical reasons but on the other sites as I had already stated in my
previous post, work went on schedule. While dealing with Physical
hazards Jagadesh Patel, from gujarat who was conducting this session
had mentioned that heat stroke, heat exhaustion and heat cramps are
quite common among construction workers. The first two forms of heat
related hazard can also lead to death if proper medical/first aid is
not provided immediately. But in not a single work site that we saw
was there a medical practitioner available at hand, and it was not
sure if there were workers trained in first aid available. When we
spoke to the project manager about the cases of accidents especially
on the road work, where traffic still flows, he said that there were
not many and there could be hardly 4 or 5 cases where, FIR has been
filed. But un official reports suggest a far higher accident rate.

The other greatest risk is the Mechanical hazards to which the workers
are exposed. The work places are often crowded with humans and
materials, as well as machines. While at some sites we did see the men
wearing fiber helmets to cover their heads, women seldom wore them.
There was absolutely no other protective gear. When we did ask the
workers about accidents and injuries they did not give coherent
answers. But there are a number of cases of injuries and we need to
document them through more and more onsite visits. In the earlier post
we had mentioned of a hospital site in which the workers had gone on
strike demanding compensation for a worker who met with a fatal
accident and also for better safety standards. The graver danger is to
the children of the workers who are housed on the work site. The kids
run through the construction area. when we spoke to the site managers
they said that they take excess care to keep the kids away from the
site but this adds to the danger, when there is no proper day care
facility.

The workers are also exposed to high percentage of particulate matter,
including cement, silicon and even asbestos (not very much). These are
chemicals with proven record for causing deadly and painful deaths
including cancer.

Biological hazards are relatively less at the work site but in the
absence of proper sanitation facilities and good volumes of water, the
danger of bacterial and viral diseases especially to children
increases. When we talk to the workers they did say that children and
even they fall sick and have to go to doctors close by. Some even
asked if we could arrange for doctors to visit them on a regular
basis. When we raised this question with the site managers and project
managers, they said that though no doctor wanted to come to the site,
they promptly send the workers to hospitals nearby. But the workers
say that the companies and contractors only pay them for accident and
injury related hospital expense and not for illness.

These are not an exhaustive list of hazards but a preliminary
assessment of the condition in the sites.

Interview with Mr. Prem Kumar, Project Manager Ramkay constructions:

We met Mr. Prem kumar at his office in perungudi. He was cordial and
was willing to give us all the information we needed.

He said that the IT expressway was a multi crore investment by TNRDC
through a special purpose vehicle called ITEL (IT Expressway Limited).
It was a BOOT (Build Own Operate Transfer) model and they might levy a
toll once the construction upto Siruseri is over. He said that Ramky
constructions were constructing the duct for electrical, telephone
lines as well as for drainage systems. He said that it was the state
of the art technology even though it is not a highway.

There were about 500 workers unskilled and semi skilled working on the
road works while another 300 were working on an IT park that ramky is
building at Navalur opposite SIPCOT. They have been housed inside the
SIPCOT Industrail area in one huge camp. "Here, he said all facilities
for sanitation and water had been provided,….. as there were fewer
than 5 children there has been no attempt to set up day care centres".
But from other sources, especially workers we came to know that there
are a minimum of 30 children.
 The labourers are sourced from 10 -13 independent contractors who
come from all over central India as well as andhra. The company pays
the contractors on per piece basis, in other words in terms of work,
and it is the contractors who pay the wages to the workers. But the
company has taken workman's compensation policy for all the workers
and in the event of accidents are illness the workers can claim
compensation. He said they also give the workers travel allowance once
in 6 months

The rates that he said more or less were the same that the workers,
had said. But he added that there were times, when the contractor
shared the money equally among all his workers rather set a daily
wage.

On the issue of health and safety he said that the workers health is
taken care off, and they do send them to hospitals or local doctors
for checkups. In case of accidents the contractors can raise a bill on
the company for the expenses incurred and compensate the workers.

When we asked him about cases of domestic violence and sexual
harassment he said "not many cases in this work, they are all good and
there are no reports of major domestic violence, but in case there is
any our HR team calls the person concerned and tell advise them not to
involve in such activities, and in case it persists, the person is
terminated from service.

We had a lengthy discussion on the plausibility of setting up day care
centers and he assured us that he would extend his help towards any
such attempts. But he also cautioned that not many of the workers or
companies might be interested, more so if they have to make a monetary
contribution.

We requested him for access to his work sites as well as his workers
camp, and he readily put us to people who would be able to help us.