The Hindu

• There are 10,000 migrant workers in Mangalore
• Most workers have complained of various diseases which experts have termed workplace hazards
• The shacks in which the workers live do not have toilets and safe drinking water
• Children of these workers are forced to roam around the construction sites

Mangalore, Jul 23: The inhuman conditions in the construction sector in Mangalore have come to light with the number of construction workers going to hospitals, particularly the Government Wenlock Hospital, showing an increase.

Most workers have complained of hand and foot infections, alimentary canal disorders, skin diseases, among others, which, according to medical experts, are workplace hazards.

Mangalore city has over 10,000 migrant labourers who have come from Bijapur, Davangere, Gulburga, Bidar, Bellary and some from Bangalore Rural districts in search of work. Builders house them in shacks around their sites.

These shacks do not have toilets and safe drinking water. The children of these workers are forced to roam around the construction sites.

At the workplace, the fast drying cement, which contains chemicals, gets into their blood stream through cuts and wounds resulting in skin diseases.

The workers are not given gloves, shoes, helmets and plastic overalls to protect themselves while at work. Once they fall ill, they cannot work for several days and their families are forced to go without food as most of them work on daily wages.

While laying concrete, which involves more than 12 hours of work a day, the labourers work without shifts, says president of the State federation of construction workers B Madhava.

The Government is yet to effectively implement the Central Labour Act of 1996, he says. It has not formed a welfare board or an advisory committee on labour management and practices, he adds.

The Government has also not collected welfare cess, mandatory for all buildings with a budget of Rs 5 lac and more. Quoting Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa's budget speech as saying that the Act has been promulgated in the State, Madhava says it is far from truth.