Assam government urges contractors to engage mostly local workers

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The state government has urged contractors engaged in construction activities to make use of indigenous workers as much as possible instead of engaging 'unknown faces'.

It is seen in most construction sites in the state, be it a government or private construction project, that around 90% of the labourers belong to a particular community. It is also estimated that around 30% of the construction cost is spent as labour cost. This means that a large portion of the money spent on construction activities end up in the hands of 'those' labourers.

Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma said the state government is making efforts to endow the dignity of labour on indigenous youths by bringing about a change in their mindset regarding manual labour. "Recently, I told PWD contractors that they should stop bringing Bangladeshi labourers from Malda, Siliguri, and Jalpaiguri and encourage local youths to work in the construction sector. For upcoming projects, the contractors will be required to employ 50% local and indigenous labour. I asked the contractors to provide training for youths from the tea tribe communities, Scheduled Tribes (ST), and other indigenous communities. Bringing labourers from Dhubri to work on a Majuli construction project shouldn't be the norm. I have seen many local youths engaged in construction work on the new Guwahati-North Guwahati bridge. But they have to be provided with more scope of work. "We have to bring about a change in the mindset of the local youths so that their hesitation to engage in manual labour disappears."

The view of some of the contractors in engaging local youth is that they also want to engage local labour in their projects, but they face certain problems. One is that the locals hesitate to work in all kinds of environments, be they muddy, dirty or in any other such scenario. But the labourers from the particular community do not have such hesitation and they are eager to work anywhere and at any time. They also don't want any special treatment, as compared to the local youths. "We don't have any problem in engaging local youth, but we have to ensure that there is no delay in the work," they said, adding, "Nobody can force the local youths to work in the construction sector unless they come forward of their own volition."

Also Read: Do contractors rob MGNREGA beneficiaries of wages by using JCBs?