Match the following: Projects needing workforce, shelter home inmates desperate for jobs

As thousands of migrant workers, many of whom have been rendered jobless by the nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19),

As thousands of migrant workers, many of whom have been rendered jobless by the nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), continue to return to their villages and home towns, infrastructure agencies such as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the NCR Transport Corporation (NCRTC) are struggling to find the workforce needed to complete their projects in Ghaziabad.

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The district administration on Sunday said it has sent about 3,000 migrant workers to their respective home towns on buses and, last week, had sent another lot of 350 workers to Rajasthan. A majority of migrant workers were taken to shelter homes set up in the district soon after the lockdown was announced and they have now been dispatched in buses to their home towns.

The officials, however, seem to have no plan at hand about using these workers for infrastructure projects, a move that could help address two crucial problems -- joblessness and workforce shortage.

“Currently, we have got permission to restart work on the Delhi Meerut Expressway (DME) project but we have only about 27% of our workforce available for the construction of Phase 2 and Phase 4 of the DME. The workers who are at shelter homes can help with our project, provided they are ready to work and has the required skill set. We have proper arrangements to house workers at two of our bigger camps in Dasna and Bhojpur -- both have a combined capacity to accommodate about 1,000 workers,” RP Singh, project director, NHAI, said.

The NHAI contractors, who require unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers, are presently hecticly searching for labourers, even in nearby districts of Aligarh, Bulandshahr, etc.

“We require about 1,200 workers for Phase 2 of the DME project and currently we have only about 350. We are searching for workers in areas such as Bulandshahr, Bareilly and Muzaffarnagar. But most workers have returned to their home towns. We also tried to search for workers in Khoda, but that locality is sealed now. We will now try to contact workers at shelter homes. If they are willing and have the required skill set, they can be hired. We will get in touch with the district administration about this,” said Vinod Kumar, senior engineer (planning) from Apco Chetak, the concessionaire company taking up Phase 2 construction of the DME project, said.

The NHAI said the ongoing lockdown will further delay the completion of the DME project and will overshoot its revised deadline of May 2020. The shortage of workforce has only aggravated the delay.

Likewise, the work on the Regional Rapid Transit System project, being carried out by the NCRTC, will also be affected, though work has restarted at its casting yard.

The NCRTC officials, too, feel that migrant workers can be gainfully employed by them, if they have the required skill set.

“Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the demand and supply of manpower. While workers staying in shelter homes are looking for employment opportunities, employers are facing worker shortage after their regular workers returned to their home states. As such, matching available skill set with the demand is one of the challenges being faced by officials and any idea that can help bridge the gap is welcome and will help both the industry and workers,” Sudhir Sharma, chief public relations officer, NCRTC, said.

Sources in NCRTC said they have restarted work with a workforce of about 1,000 and their numbers will have to be scaled up once construction picks up speed.

District labour commissioner Rajesh Kumar Mishra said the possibility of such an engagement of migrant workers can be facilitated with the help of the district administration.

“It is up to the workers in the shelter homes if they wish to work for these agencies. We have about 28,700 registered workers with us who work at different construction sites. Even agencies like NHAI and NCRTC have to get their workers registered with us. At present, there is no such mechanism wherein the workers sitting idle at shelter homes can be engaged. But the agencies will have to get in touch with district officials on how to go about engaging them,” he said.

District magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey did not respond to calls and messages, seeking his response on the issue.

The Uttar Pradesh government had asked district officials concerned to get forms filled up by migrant workers, specifying their work experience and skill set. Using this information, the state government plans to build a database of about 20 lakh workers who can be provided with employment opportunities.