Working in pitiable conditions, labourers are not aware of the Building & Other Construction Workers Act Karam Prakash Patiala, October 2 Though the state government has already notified the implementation of the Model Welfare Scheme for the construction workers, the workers at the brick kilns, however, were found to be unaware of the said schemes. It was revealed when a Delhi-based lawyers’ NGO, Human Rights Law Network, visited the construction workers of brick kilns in different villages of the district, here today. Living and working in dire conditions, the majority of the labourers at the brick kilns, which are covered under the Building and other construction Worker’s Act (BOCW), have not been registered by the employers, thereby, depriving them of the social welfare schemes. During the said visit led by advocate Veena Sharma of Human Rights Law Network at Bansal brick kiln, in Kauli village, the labourers said they were toiling everyday for 12-14 hours to make ends meet. At the site, children were seen everywhere and there was no safety equipment. Stories of withheld wages and other issues were commonplace. One of the workers, Om Parkash of Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, said they were not aware of any welfare schemes run by the government. “No government official has ever reached out to us for any sort of help over the years. Moreover, we haven’t heard any of the welfare schemes,” he said. The labourers said employers lured them to work for the whole season on the promise of advance payments, Hence, they would be trapped in debt bondage. They claimed that most of their wages went towards the repayment of their loan. They were never able to repay it in full and had to take other loans instead, falling into a never-ending cycle of debt. The Labour activist, Vijay Walia, and state president of Lal Jhanda Bharat Nirmal Mazdoor Union, Hari Singh also — to take the stock of prevailing conditions of the workers — visited different Brick Kilns across the Distric. They visited Dev Brick Kiln in Nardu village, Guru Nanak brick kiln in Raipur Mandla village, and Ambay Brick Company in Budh Majra village. Vijay Walia, a labour rights activist, said, “Labourers are not aware of the schemes, therefore, the government should work more on awareness. Government should take action against the employers who do not register their workers. ”

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