The substandard housing provided by the subcontractors of the namma metro project are in
obscure place with poor living conditions
Vaishnavi Gopalraj
Bengaluru, 31 Jan 2023
The poor substandard housing facilities provided under the namma metro project forced laborer
to live in the poor ventilation housing facilities. The workers usually stay with 10-15 people living
in the small rooms with inadequate ventilation.
The Contract Labour act states that the contractor must take care of the welfare and the health of the labours. However, many laborers claim that they are not given any of these facilities.
Sagar Bajaj, Construction worker from Bihar says that “In this colony, there are around 200
Workers who live in substandard housing provided by the contractors near a garbage dump.
There are15 people sharing one room with no water facilities and inadequate ventilation”.
Parandaamaiah.M.N, Labour official says that “As per the act the contractors or the BMRCL should incept the labour colonies every five months and ensure the faculties are provided it to them”.
A study by Marra collective, a NGO based in Bangalore shows that the living conditions of
migrant workers employed on the Namma Metro project have not improved since the publication
of a report detailing the poor conditions they faced during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Abhishek singh, Labour Rights activist says “Contractors must take responsibility for ensuring
the labour colony is well-organized and equipped with the necessary basic facilities. In many of
in these colonies, workers are often seen queuing for access to drinking water”.
Labour activists in the city believe that the most of the migrant laborers are reluctant to join unions or raise questions about their working conditions because they fear retaliation from their employers and this might cause the limits to their ability to access their labour Rights.
