HYDERABAD: Construction activities have resumed in the State, but the migrant workers are in no mood to stay back. One of the critical reasons is that they are finding themselves in a vicious grip of bonded labour as many of the contractors and organisers, who brought them from villages of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, are asking them to work for free in lieu of the free ration given to them during the lockdown.
When Express visited the Medchal transit point, where several private operators and trucks are providing paid transport services to several parts of the country, migrant workers from various construction sites narrated tales of very similar woes.
Repay ‘debt’
“I worked at a construction site in Nagole. Our contractor gave us 12kg rice and Rs 500 once, and then gave us cooked food once a day. For this, they said we owe them several thousands,” said Manoj Rao, a worker from Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh.
“No government has fed us, we filled our own stomach,” Rao lamented.Immediately after the imposition of lockdown in April, the government had instructed the Construction Workers Welfare Board to pay Rs 3,000 to all registered workers, but in reality almost no worker appears to have received the amount.
This inhuman attitude of the contractors is forcing the workers to leave the State. “The lockdown will keep coming and going. Every time they will trap us and force us to work with pay cuts for the food they give us. We have decided to leave,” Manoj Rao added.
However, not all migrant workers are lucky to be able to leave, especially those who have “dues”.
Chote Lal, working at a construction site at Kompally, has to come back in a few months times to repay his “debt” for the food he was provided with during the lockdown.
“We owe around Rs 6,000 each to them. They said we can go now, but have to come back again and pay off the dues. I will have to work for two weeks to repay it all by myself,” added Chote Lal.
Since the contractor is from their native village, he will ensure these workers clear their “dues”.
Savitri from Raigarh, Chhattisgarh who worked at Kokapet is in the same situation. “Though we worked for two weeks (before lockdown), they cut our wages saying it is for the food they gave us during the lockdown. We can’t live here if they want a cut from Rs 250 we are paid for one day’s labour,” she said.