Labourers lose out on work as govt contractors turn to technology

Be it road digging, widening, excavation or any other work in the city, most of it is now being done using machines or power tools.
For representational purposes
For representational purposes

HYDERABAD: Since the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and other departments involved in building and maintaining urban areas have turned to corporations for taking up large scale works, many labourers who worked under contractors have lost their jobs.    

Be it road digging, widening, excavation or any other work in the city, most of it is now being done using machines or power tools. According to the engineers, power machine tools have reduced the interference of labourers to a great extent.  

“Machines are fast, efficient and reliable, unlike labourers. Contractors who failed to go with the flow of new technology are now suffering, and as a result, labourers are suffering too” said M Lakshmikanth, a contractor and member of the GHMC Contractors Association. 

“Earlier, I used to work under a contractor who worked for the GHMC. Now, they are using earthmovers and other machines like road cutters for excavation. They are even using  a machine for scraping the road and removing the dust before laying the road,” said Ch Dashappa, a labourer from Pargi who now stands at Punjagutta Circle ‘Labour Adda’ every morning to look for work.

He had lost his job recently because his contactor employed skilled workers to handle machine tools. The contractor had replaced over 40 labourers with just eight skilled workers.     Another labourer lamented, “Earlier, I had a stable source of income. I was paid a salary. Now I have to hope for wages each day. At least two days in a week I have to go back home without wages when nobody hires me for work.” 

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