The Hindu : Front Page : Labour Department issue ultimatum

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 10, 2006

Front Page

Front Page

Labour Department issue ultimatum

Staff Reporter

Condition of labour camps near the Technopark campus

FOR A BETTER DEAL: Labour department officials talking to children at a labour camp on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday. Photo: S. Gopakumar

Thiruvananthapuram: The Labour Department on Thursday issued an ultimatum to improve the conditions in the labour camps housing migrant workers involved in the construction of buildings in the Technopark campus.

Labour Commissioner K.Chandrasekhara Babu directed the work contractors to clean up the premises and provide basic facilities for the labourers within a week. This followed an inspection by a team of officials from the Labour Department. Terming the conditions in the camps as a violation of human rights, Mr. Babu warned that the Government would close down the camp and shift the labourers to relief camps if the contract company failed to improve the conditions.

Mr. Babu announced that the department would set up a special cell to monitor the working conditions of migrant labourers and ensure that they are licensed under labour laws. Addressing presspersons, he said the proposed special cell would be headed by the respective regional Joint Labour Commissioner. The cells would be empowered to carry out surprise checks on labour camps and crack down on violations of labour laws, he added. Earlier, Mr. Babu, accompanied by Joint Labour Commissioner Prakash S. Oliver went round the camp and talked to the labourers, mostly from West Bengal and Bihar. Deputy Mayor V. Jayaprakash was also present. The inspection team went into the sweltering tin shacks, where women and children were huddled together on straw mats and torn plastic sheets. They also saw the stinking toilets and the discharge of raw sewage into the neighbouring ground.

in the camp and lack of basic facilities. They were asked to explain the presence of minor boys among the workers. Mr.Babu instructed officials to subject one of the boys to a medical test to verify his age. Mr. Babu said the labour camps represented a prima facie case of exploitation of unorganised workers. He directed the contractors to issue identity cards to the labourers.

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