SANGAREDDY/KARIMNAGAR: Tension escalated on the premises of IIT Hyderabad at Kandi in Sangareddy when more than 2,000 migrant construction labourers went on a rampage on Wednesday, ransacking furniture at a temporary office at the construction site, damaging a police vehicle and injuring a policeman who tried to prevent them from resorting to violence. The trouble broke out when tempers ran high during an argument with their employers, L&T for forcing them to work without wages for the last three months.
The workers complained that they were being constrained to live in tenements which are cramped and go without food as no ration was supplied to them on account of lockdown being in force. The labourers calmed down only after the intervention of Sangareddy SP S Chandrashekar Reddy. After the tempers cooled down, a delegation of the workers was taken to Collector M Hanumantha Rao who assured them that he would ensure their employers would pay their wages by Thursday and also supply the ration to them. The labourers who hail from Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra were upset when L&T officials told them to continue work of construction of IIT Hyderabad buildings, in view of the exemption accorded for construction activity from lockdown if labourers were available at the site itself.
We have neither received wages nor food, say migrant labourers
The workers were livid because they were not paid the wages for the previous month too. They alleged that they were not provided food or ration like chilli, oil or tamarind by the contractor and only received rice provided by the State government. They also made allegation of being forced to live in cramped huts, with one hut housing as many as 10 to 20 people in the hot weather conditions.
Workers arrive in K’nagar
In a related development, migrant workers who had similar problem of lack of work and wages in Vijayawada, arrived in Karimangar who were on their way to their native villages in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. Hundreds of migrant workers were spotted on Rajiv Rahadri walking towards the neighbouring states notwithstanding the scorching heat or the Coronavirus threat.
They were carrying backpacks weighing around five to six kilogram. Speaking to Express, a 40-year-old Durga said, “Most of us are construction workers who were out of jobs due to the lockdown. We have been suffering for the past one month. We decided to take up this journey so that we could return home to our families.
It has been a week since we started walking.” She added that many Good Samaritans had come forward to offer them food and water during their journey. The residents of Rajiv Rahadari Housing Board Colony offered tem breakfast and tea. Karimnagar Mayor Y Sunil Rao said that the administration has arranged food and accommodation for the migrant w0rkers for a week. “They are still not willing to stay back. They want to return to their homes,” he said.
92 migrant workers shifted to Kamareddy
Warangal: As many as 92 migrant workers, who belong to Maharashtra, were shifted in an RTC bus from Narasampet mandal in Warangal Rural district to Kamareddy district on Wednesday. TSRTC Regional Manager A Sridhar said that the workers were shifted to Kamareddy after the intervention of Warangal Rural Collector M Haritha. The workers, along with their children, were heading home on foot while they were spotted at Narsampet on Tuesday night. The villagers who saw them alerted MLA Peddi Sudharshan and he, in turn, informed officials