Stung by the death of two labourers from Bihar engaged in construction work in the state capital due to malaria, the Thiruvananthapuram district administration has ordered contractors to stop all work employing migrant labourers. They died two days back. A labour contracting firm, Sachin Enterprises, had employed them to work for a large construction company, Punj Lloyd. Six other migrant labourers were under treatment for malaria in a hospital here, and their condition was stated to be serious. Labour Commissioner S Srinivas said Sachin Enterprises had been booked for violating labour laws, but its officials were absconding.The district collector has ordered that all construction work in the capital using migrant labourers from other states be stopped, until basic living conditions, medical assistance and legal wages for them were ensured.The deaths come barely a week of the state government declaring immediate measures to make sure that migrant workers in Kerala get a better deal. There are an estimated 10 lakh migrant workers in Kerala, mostly in the state’s civil and road construction sectors, flour mills and hundreds of brick kilns. Even as Kerala struggles to cope with spiralling unemployment, every day, thousands of migrant labourers are brought in from Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa and areas bordering Nepal. This is mainly due to the Gulf money-fuelled construction boom, besides the state’s infrastructure-building efforts. Besides, migrant labourers are being increasingly used to harvest paddy, pluck coconuts, and milk cows. They are also being used for domestic chores. Aggressive trade union practices and the contractors’ obligation to stick to deadlines in completing big projects are encouraging inflow of migrant workers. Almost all trade unions in the state have been complaining that there was no mechanism to ensure fair labour practices for migrant workers.
