E-Paper
Major city projects - Metro, 24x7 water supply - likely to be hit by labourers leaving city
PUNE Amidst of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, labourers have begun rushing to their hometowns, which affects the city’s big projects like Pune Metro and 24x7 equitable water supply
PUNE Amidst of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, labourers have begun rushing to their hometowns, which affects the city’s big projects like Pune Metro and 24x7 equitable water supply.
There is a fear among labourers working in different development projects, as well as in construction, that a lockdown is imminent.
Pune Metro
There are 2,800 labourers working on the Pune metro project. Most are from Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Due to the lockdown last year, the Metro work was hampered. The deadline was rescheduled. Last year, the Pune metro rail administration tried hard to stop these workers from going home, but as the government had started special trains for them, they registered their names and returned to their native places.
Hemant Sonwane, general manager of Maha-Metro said, “At present, we are talking to labourers and counselling them. We are taking care of labourers by providing medicine to them. We have also started to vaccinate those above the age of 45.” He said, “Last time, work was hampered as labourers returned home. Right now, there is no such restriction on Metro work.”
24x7 water supply project
PMC contractors are also facing a problem due to labourers returning home. The 24x7 water project work is going on in the city. The project has already been delayed due to last year’s lockdown.
Nandkumar Jagtap, superintendent engineer of the water supply department and person handling the 24x7 water project, said, “Due to lockdown fear, some labourers are returning to their native places. The situation is tricky. We cannot predict what happens next. However, we experienced last time that if one or two labourers decide to go, it create panic in the entire unit. We are trying to convince them and take necessary care to retain them.”
PMC initiated the 24x7 water supply project at the cost of ₹2,550 crore to solve the water problem of the city. It raised ₹200 crore through bonds and also levied water charges. It has set a deadline of five years to complete the project. It was approved in February 2018 and work started in December 2018. PMC allotted the work to L&T and Jain Irrigation.
Construction
There are 80,000 construction workers in the city. Some of them have already gone to their hometowns. Most are from Bihar, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
The Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association (Credai) has written to the state government to allow construction workers to work on all nearby sites. The letter sent on the basis of state government’s new guidelines on continuation of construction activity had said they should be restricted to one site only.
Credai has confirmed that labourers are returning home.
Shantilal Kataria, national vice-president, Credai and managing director of Aditya Builders, said, “Labourers are returning to their native places. We are requesting labourers to stay at work but peer and family pressure force workers to return their native places.”
He added, “This year people are more under pressure as the situation is different. We have requested the state government and Pune municipal commissioner to allow workers to go to nearby sites. We have only 50 days to complete our outdoor construction activities before the monsoon.”
