S V KRISHNA CHAITANYA By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Nothing can be more ironic at the DefExpo-2018 venue than the kennel-like shelters put up for workers. Amid all the pomp and gaiety associated with the expo, billed as the largest-ever exhibition featuring Indian arms companies, is a sorry tale of inhumane treatment meted out to the workers engaged by Pavilions and Interiors India Pvt Ltd, a Delhi-based firm. The four-day expo is to start on April 11.

The workers, who are toiling round-the-clock and racing against time to deck up the venue in time, are housed in these shelters behind the exhibition area, where food is served to all the labourers! Ironically, even the cars of company officials are better protected from the simmering heat than the workers.

Express visited the venue at Thiruvidanthai on the East Coast Road, about 20 km from Chennai, on Saturday, when the temperature breached 350 C and humidity was 70 per cent. Each enclosure, measuring 3 ft x 4 ft, was shared by three or four workers, who were totally drenched in sweat. They were seen using their bags as pillows. There is a row of such temporary enclosures made of steel pipes on the sides, wooden floorboards and roof. The workers have to literally crawl into these enclosures and can barely sit upright.

DURING the interaction, several workers said they have been sleeping in these enclosures for more than 15 days now. “We were told to use shelters for a couple of days initially and were promised better accommodation later. But nothing happened. We have been sleeping here for more than 15 days, enduring heat and mosquito menace. We are left with no choice,” said the workers, mostly from Mumbai and Delhi.

There is no proper sanitation and food also, a worker complained. “We are taking bath in the open and there are only a few toilets. The quality of food is also bad,” they said.

When asked, Dinesh Chandra Yadav, an official with the Defence Exhibition Organisation of the Ministry of Defence, which is responsible for holding the expo, claimed that these shelters were meant for a quick nap in the afternoon and for the workers to have food. The night stay has been arranged at a nearby wedding hall and a few workers have been accommodated in hotels at Kovalam.

“Pavilion and Interiors India Pvt Ltd is a listed company with the Defence Exhibition Organisation and all are their regular workers,” Yadav said. Saying that he was not aware of the issue, a spokesperson of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which is coordinating the overall activities of the expo, said the accommodation of workers was the responsibility of individual contractor concerned. According to official statistics, more than 670 companies will exhibit their state-of-the-art products at the expo.