Gurgaon: Monday started on a bad note for Rakesh Singh (45), a construction worker at one of the road development projects in the city.
A panic-stricken call from his brother-in-law in Faridabad informed him about the week-long curfew in Delhi. Then came rumours about the Haryana government following suit in the coming days.
“I called up my contractor and told him that I want to go back to my hometown on Monday itself as I cannot risk it getting stuck in the city this time. He told me that he’ll make arrangements for accommodation near the project site and also assured me that the state government is not going to impose lockdown here,” Singh said.
With the Delhi government imposing seven days of lockdown, many are worried about how they would commute to their workplaces from Delhi, while others are wary of a repeat of last year when they were stranded in the city, walking hundreds of miles on foot to reach home.
Many workers who had left for their hometowns to celebrate Holi or cast votes have refused to return, while those staying put are contemplating leaving as well. “As long as work will continue, the majority will not leave. Back in villages, life is even more difficult as there is hardly any source of income for them. But there’s growing fear among workers about the lockdown, and the curfew in the capital has only made them more nervous as many come from Delhi,” said Deepak Kumar, a labour contractor for two project sites — Huda City Centre flyover and Atul Kataria Chowk.At the site of the under-construction U-turn underpass near Ambience Mall, the contractor is worried about workers who have refused to come back.From dispersing the remaining workers’ fears to promising to pay them even if work comes to a standstill, the contractor is trying to hold back the workers from migrating. “There are growing anxieties among many of these workers. The news of curfews and misinformation peddled on social media is making me anxious. I have personally told workers that in case Haryana imposes such a curfewand the work has to be stopped, we’ll provide them food, shelter, and even a daily allowance,” said Kunal Garg of RK Contractor, NHAI’s project contractor for the underpass.
Contractors, however, fear that if construction activities are shut down they’ll not be able to convince workers.
“For now, we are focusing on ensuring that they can travel to Gurgaon for work. We’ll try and arrange e-passes for them. We have sufficient space to accommodate people at our project site, so we’ll make arrangements for their stay there as well. Last year during the lockdown, we had completely supported all workers who trusted us and stayed,” said an official of Oriental Structures Engineering, NHAI’s contractor for the elevated Sohna road project.
