BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Thursday ordered a notice to the state government, BBMP and Karnataka Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board and CREDAI. This was in response to PIL seeking directions to the state to compensate families of deceased and injured construction workers. Hearing the petition filed by AICTU, a division bench of Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav asked them to file their response in four weeks.
The petition was filed in the wake of the deaths of three construction workers at Sobha Dream Acres in Varthur due to cholera in December 2017. Clifton Rozario, the counsel for the petitioner, argued that the construction workers are living in subhuman conditions and the provisions of Inter-State Migrant Labourers Act are not being followed. Hence, `25 lakh interim compensation should be awarded.
The petitioner has requested the court to issue directions to the state government to award ex-gratia of `25 lakh to the families of deceased workers and `10 lakh to an injured worker during construction. The petitioner has also sought direction to the departments concerned to submit the report on labour camps in city, living condition provided to the workers.