It is 11.30 and we are at the Haiderpur labor chowk in Delhi where workers gather every morning in the hope of being picked up for work relating to construction, painting and similar trades. They had started gathering here about three hours back and very few have been picked up today. There are still about 40 workers around. If no one turns up to pick them for work, then they will simply have to go back home without earning anything.
There is no shelter for them and this makes waiting very difficult here during the rainy season and during the extended hot days. Our conversation invariably turns to the recent heat waves in the city and workers say that they had never faced so much difficulties and so frequent health problems as during this time.
As their day starts with waiting at the labor chowk or hiring point, provision of shade and shelter at these various hiring and waiting points will be very useful for workers but this has been neglected badly. There is a tap at the Haiderpur chowk but no effort to provide cool water.
If they do not get hired in time, it becomes more likely that the employer will try to hire them for only half day wages, they say.
During the heat wave days the government had announced a longer rest period, but this did not become a practical reality for them. Suitable shady and cool rest places are seldom available and the option of staying back for longer hours in the evening may not work out, workers say. However certainly relief in some form from working in extreme hot conditions is needed. When an initiative from Ahmedabad was mentioned which has sought to provide Rs. 2000 for vulnerable households during heat waves under the heat action plan for the city so that they can avoid working on some of the hottest days, most workers supported such an initiative strongly.
Among the workers gathered here, those who live in rented houses or huts are the worst off as they have to pay rents, electricity and water bills and most of them do not even have ration cards. Hence their cost of living is higher than those who live in their own houses or huts. However everyone complains of increasing inflation and reduced days of employment in a month. Cash wages may be going up slightly but living and working conditions are becoming more difficult—this is a very commonly expressed view by the workers gathered at this chowk.
Another frequent complaint is that the welfare benefits which had started reaching construction workers under the special laws enacted for them are not reaching them now. As Bibiyani Minz, a social activist who has been involved in this effort for a long time says—there was a lot of hope earlier as even if a few workers got pension or scholarships for children, others too were happy that the process has started and their turn too will come soon. However now workers are coming to us more and more to complain that despite all the forms that they have filled up and the reminders they have been sending, their overdue claims for pensions and other benefits have not been met yet.
Subhash Bhatnagar, Coordinator of many efforts for the enaction and then for implementation of these laws says—Although the Supreme Court had given very important directions for improving the implementation of these laws, unfortunately implementation remains poor and so daily wage constructions workers are increasingly losing hope regarding receiving pensions and other benefits.
In fact many workers gathered at the Haiderpur Chowk said that even getting their name registered to avail welfare benefits is becoming more and more difficult.
Even in the morning hours many workers look quite tired and stressed. They say that at times during the recent heat wave they felt that they just could not carry on any further. Yet such are the compulsions of survival that next day they again found themselves heading towards the labor chowk.
The overwhelming impression of any such conversation is that the government must really take real action to improve welfare steps for workers as many of them appear to be coming close to breaking point under the existing conditions.
Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Man over Machine, When the Two Streams Met, and A Day in 2071.
