Currency ban: No job, no cash, no food for TN construction workers

 

The chaos post demonetisation refuses to die down and has hit the low-income population real bad. As per the latest reports, after 11 days of demonetisation an estimated half-a-million migrant, unorganised construction workers in Tamil Nadu are workless, cashless and unable to effort food. 

 

The Indian Express reported that, as per experts and other agencies, the construction sector of Tamil Nadu has come to a standstill due to currency ban. Chennai, Coimbatore, Trichy and other regions of the state that have the maximum share in TN's construction sector warn of an impending disaster if the cash situation does not improve. 

 

N Nandakumar, Confederation Of Real Estates Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) of Tamil Nadu, confirmed the reports that construction workers are facing a serious problem due to no wages and no food. Further, he added that builders that are members of this organisation have been told to arrange rations for construction workers at the shelters. 

 

The organisation, however, do not have all the builders and construction projects under its umbrella. A labour department official confirmed that about 500 to 600 builders in the city of Chennai are unorganised and not a member of CREDAI or any other organisation in the state.  

 

In other words, the projects and labours handled by these unorganised builders out of the purview of any organisation or state government. 

 

As per the labour department, more than 200 major construction projects in and around Chennai city has been stopped or partially affected and according to CREDAI and various other sources around 1,000 projects in the city have been hit due to the cash crunch.  

 

The industry people suggest that there will be more serious impact on the construction sector of the country due to cash crunch situation that the country is going through. 

 

However, it is the construction workers who are facing the immediate crisis where they are left without work, money, or food. The shelters have migrants workers who are starving from past few days now. 

 

Some of the contractors have gone underground and are not responding to any calls leading to more uncertainty and chaos. 

 

S Janakarajan, an economist teaching at the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS), stated that many labourers are facing layoffs and contractions responsible for paying weekly wages are also feeling helpless due to currency shortage. 

 

Prakash Challa, CMD of SSPDL Group and also a governing council member of Confederation Of Real Estates Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), appreciates government's intention but the implementation “should have been planned better”.