Assam: Who grabs jobs in state’s booming construction sector?

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The booming real estate business alone in Assam is worth a whopping $26 billion. In every other construction work, around 30 per cent of the total cost goes to construction workers. This is indeed a huge amount that the working-class people in the state can accrue. However, a genuine question is: what percentage of the 30 per cent income goes to the indigenous labourers?

A recently published report estimates that in 2023 around Rs 1.84 million jobs were generated in the real estate sector in Assam. The real estate business in the state grows fast at the rate of 8-10 per cent annually. The report has also estimated that Assam will be in need of an additional seven lakh houses by 2045.

The ground reality remains that labourers belonging to a particular community have cornered all manual works like carpentry, masonry, helpers, electricians, plumbers and the like in the real estate sector and other construction works taking place in the state, including Guwahati.

This reporter made on-the-spot case studies through visits to real estate and government construction sites and found through interaction with labourers that almost all of them belong to a particular community. The presence of indigenous labourers is rare in this sector.

During interactions with the in-charges overseeing different works at the construction sites, it has come to light they take labourers who make themselves available for construction works. There are people who supply labourers. "We don't ascertain which labourers hail from which district of the state," one of the in-charges at a construction site said.

Another in-charge said, "When we engage indigenous labourers, they often create troubles for us. Slacking is a common problem among the indigenous labourers, and that hampers the progress of work."

According to employment exchange registration, Assam has around 3.50 lakh HSLC-passed unemployed job seekers and almost an equal number of non-matriculation job seekers. A disturbing question is: what prevents such a strong indigenous workforce from dominating the labour sector in the state? A construction labourer earns Rs 800-1,500 per day based on his or her skill set.

Various student and youth organizations in the state seldom motivate the indigenous youth to grab the job avenues in the construction sector available in the state. This work-shy attitude leaves the entire construction sector to the youth of a particular community.

An Assamese builder said, "Our boys are shy of working at construction sites in Guwahati. They prefer to go to other states and work there as security guards, peons and khalasis in the private sector. The limited income they earn is spent for their maintenance. Had they worked in the construction sector in Assam, they could have earned more money."

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