india

Updated: Aug 31, 2019 10:28 IST

The Andhra Pradesh government’s decision to abruptly terminate Navayuga Engineering Company Limited’s contract for executing the Polavaram irrigation project on the Godavari river has thrown around 20,000 people out of work after not being paid for four months and left 150-odd labour contractors in the lurch.

As Navayuga is forced to wind up operations, the project site in Polavaram is deserted and machines, trucks, cement concrete mixers and cranes are idle.

Except for the presence of a few employees and engineers of Navayuga, project offices and guest houses atop a hill adjacent to the project site are empty. So are the sheds where thousands of people were engaged in project-related work until recently.

A large number of labour contractors still gather at the project office every day and make enquiries with the Navayuga officials on the status of the project. They have not been getting their bills cleared for the last four months and unless they get their money, they cannot pay their workers.

The contractors sent back the workers to their home towns soon after they came to know that the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government led by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had on July 29terminated the Navayuga contract awarded by its predecessor. The Andhra Pradesh high court suspended the government’s order cancelling the company’s contract for the hydro-electric project, but not for the main dam.

The government, which assumed office after assembly elections early in the summer, has reviewed or annulled several contracts awarded by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) administration led by N Chandrababu Naidu, alleging malfeasance.

“What else can we do? It is too expensive to maintain the workforce when there is no work. We have to provide them food, shelter and other necessities,” said Vikas Kumar, a civil engineering graduate-turned-contractor from Uttar Pradesh.

These contractors, hailing from different parts of the country, particularly from UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, MP and Assam, mobilised labourers from their states to the project site at Polavaram for skilled jobs, including making steel frames, fabrication of plates, welding, fitting and cement concrete mixing, besides unskilled labour like earth-moving and cement lining work.

On average, each contractor mobilised 100 labourers for the Polavaram project works. The total work force came to around 15,000-18,000.

“Then, there are other local workers engaged as manual labourers, drivers, cleaners, sweepers, officer workers, etc, In all, around 20,000 workers were fully engaged in the project work till recently,” said Omprakash Kumar from East Champaran in Bihar. He brought more than 100 workers from his town.

“We sent back the workers promising to remit their payments at the earliest. But it has been a month now and there is tremendous pressure from the workers, who have been calling us every day. We stayed back patiently waiting for our payments,” another contractor, Ramnewas Sahani from UP, said.

But the workers don’t have the patience to wait. And it is leading to law and order issues in some places. On Wednesday, workers engaged by Mohammad Istiyak, 40, attacked his house at Saharanpur in Bihar and assaulted his younger brother Mohammed Mustak the previous day, Istiyak said.

“The workers were panicky and agitated, as I am supposed to clear their wage arrears to the extent of ~35 lakh. I am held up here because I am waiting for my bills to be cleared,” said Istiyak, who brought around 100 workers to Polavaram from Bihar.

Each worker is paid around Rs 12,000 to Rs 18,000 per month for 12 hours of work a day. Since it was common for payments to be delayed in any project, the contractors did not have much of a problem until last month. The contractors had paid their workers an advance when they brought them to the project site.

According to Amarendra Kumar Mehta, another labour contractor from Jharkhand, total dues from Navayuga towards payments to workers was more than Rs 200 crore.

Navayuga Engineering project manager of Polavaram G Kranti said that it was the first time that the project had faced such a crisis. “Normally, we release wage bills within the same month. But because of elections, all our bills got stuck up with the irrigation department since March this year. As per our estimates, the pending wage bills are to the tune of over ~100 crore. We shall clear them as soon as the government settles our account,” he said.

B Sudhakar Babu, chief engineer of the Polavaram irrigation project head works, who took responsibility for the project on Wednesday, said the department had cleared almost all the pending bills of Navayuga on August 26.

“There are a few more fresh bills up to Rs 130 crore submitted by the company and we shall settle them in another 10 days,” he said. On pending wages to workers, Babu said that in the past the company used to draw money under an imprest account from which wages used to be paid. Imprest is a fixed-balance account that is replenished regularly and from which money is drawn to for pay for expenses.

“But now, the government has done away with this imprest payment system. The company has to now settle the wage bills from its regular account,” he said.

The government plans to award fresh tenders to complete the project. “There is no guarantee that the new contractor will engage our services for continuing the work. He may engage a different set of contractors and workforce. Even if some of us are engaged, it is difficult for us to bring the labourers back to work, as they would look for other work,” Amarendra Kumar Mehta said. Navayuga has already started dismantling its machinery and is expected to shift the equipment from the project site.

Neither state irrigation minister P Anil Kumar Yadav nor special chief secretary (irrigation) Adityanath Das could be reached for comment.

Irrigation expert and convener of Forum for Action Research and Policy Analysis RV Rama Rao said non-payment of wages to workers was definitely a matter of concern which should be resolved at the earliest.