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Lack of work disheartening for daily wagers back at labour chowks in and around Chandigarh
Most forced to work for lower wages after putting up with tough bargaining by contractors
Almost deserted for two months after the Covid-19 curfew and lockdown, labour chowks where semi-skilled workers collect to be hired for short-term manual work, are seeing some activity, but there are hardly any jobs available.
Those who are lucky to get some work say they have to deal with tough bargaining from contractors and often settle for lower wages.
“I have come here every day in the last one week, but was hired only for two days,” says Mohammed Rustum, a mason at the Zirakpur-Shimla labour chowk in Zirakpur.
Rustom, who moved to Mohali 10 years ago from Muzaffarpur in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and now rents a house in Baltana with his brother, says, “I had registered for the Shramik trains (special services for migrants) but it was difficult to get a ticket so I stayed back as construction activity started in the district. Walking home was not an option.”
Moinuddin, a mason waiting at Madanpura chowk in Mohali, says earlier he would get some work within an hour after reaching the chowk. “Now there is no work. Only a handful of people get picked up.”
“All construction and other projects have been held up after the lockdown and because of the migrant exodus we are not getting any work,” says Hira Lal, a contractor.
Things, however, are not that bleak as work on some unfinished projects has started, he adds.
‘People want to work with fewer people’
Anuj Pandey, a contractor working in Chandigarh for the past 15 years, has been forced to return to his village in Chhapra, Bihar, as his savings ran out. Most of the contractors, he says on phone, have gone back to their villages and towns in the state and in UP. “ I and five other contractors with a team of 15 men have had a tough journey back. Almost 80% of the workforce has exited from cities because no work is available,” he says.
Those who are left behind, too, are finding it hard to get work.
Pandey, who used to supply manpower to the local industrial units in Chandigarh, adds, “Industrialists stopped responding to calls from labourers who were in dire need of money.”
Echoing the same sentiment, Kanwaljeet Singh, president, All India Central Council of Trade Unions, said, “The labour involved in construction work has almost vanished. There is no drop in wage rates but demand for labour has dipped as people want to work with fewer people given social distancing rules.”
No one stepping out in Panchkula
The old labour chowk near Sector 17, Panchkula, bustling with activity once, remains deserted as people are not too keen to step out during the lockdown or hire workers.
“Most of the labourers have returned to UP. Only a few who have settled down here are available for work, which anyway is scarce,” says Rajesh Kumar, a mason from Haripur village in Sector 4.
Many local workers are not able to move out of Rajiv Colony near Sector 17 where they live as it has been declared a partial containment zone after a milk vendor tested positive earlier this month.
Labourers are also being forced to deal with tough bargaining by contractors.
“Earlier there was little room for bargaining,” says Rupali Devi who has been lucky to get work for four days in a week. “Now we are ready to work for any amount below Rs 300.”
