The intention here is not to begin registering the plight of workers employed by Departments or engaged by contractors at the Commonwealth Games construction sites or during renovation of old stadia or building of new ones and so on. This has been abundantly done by various civil society organisations, by PUCL and PUDR inside and outside the courts or by extracting information from various Departments via RTIs. They helpfully continue to do so while unfortunately the rulers continue to non-chalantly ignore them.

Till the eve of the Games, media both print and electronic, was full of reports about enormity of waste of money in billions almost in every CWG projects. Some estimated the total money spent on CWG at Rs 90,000 crores, others put it at Rs 70,000 crores. In the post-CWG phase when the corruption accusations were flying all over, sparing none even at the apex level, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit pointed a finger at the coordination committee (CO) headed by Suresh Kalmadi in this respect. Kalmadi, who had kept quiet all along, chose to open his mouth only to put the onus back on the Chief Minister, saying that CO has only Rs 17,000 crores against its projects whereas Mrs Dikshit's Departments had managed Rs 50,000 crores, implying that she will have a lot more to answer. The point to be noted is that the CWG involved at least Rs 70,000 crores, came from horse's mouth, so it seemed.

Corruption allegations are not dying down. Obviously, huge amounts are said to be involved in corruption cases, involving people and institutions cutting across ruling and Opposition lines and also having international ramifications of sorts. A host of enquiries have been instituted, with the Centre appointing a “high-level” committee headed by former Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) V.K. Shungloo to look into “all aspects of organising and conducting” the CWG 2010. The Shungloo Committee is to give its report to PM in three months. Observers seem to have received the appointment of Shungloo Committee by the Centre with considerable trepidation due to the fate of the findings of the latest CAG report on 2G spectrum scam, which have put the loss to the exchequer - due to under-pricing of radio waves - at Rs 1,76,000 crores, on which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has maintained discreet silence.

Will the Shungloo Committee look into the question of loss to and sufferings of workers due to non-implementation of labour laws? Ordinarily, the official reports of CAG of India do not deal with this issue. This falls within the domain of Labour Ministries; and they do not seem in a mood to do it. One instance may help understand why and wherefore for this neglect. An estimate provided by the Office of Regional Labour Commissioner (Central) is reported to have placed the total number of workers employed in various CWG projects at approximately 70,500. In Delhi, the daily Minimum Wage for unskilled worker is Rs 203, for semi-skilled worker Rs 225 and for skilled Rs 248. But, a survey by Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) shows that these workers were being paid between Rs 110-130 a day - savings made by the concerned contractors approximately of Rs 75-85 per worker. This would mean savings of Rs 192 to Rs 216 crore per year to contractors on account of non-payment of stipulated minimum wage. Going by the law of the land, overtime wages too are to be paid, if these are due. Their non-payment adds up to contractors' profits and aam workers' wages loss. Does not this neglect amount to shameless covering up of the corporate crooks? Of course, by the Central and State Labour Departments.

People with some humane sensibility may feel shocked (but not the elites running the present regime, so it seems) to see that billions of rupees were spent on embellishing the capital and even making a couple of lakh hapless aam aadmi to vanish from the Capital's streets in preparation for the Commonwealth Games - apparently for security reasons, say some. But, the regime showed no qualms to see that workers working day and night to ensure success of CWG, were at least assured of stipulated minimum wage and other minimal cooking and lodging facilities.

Actually, a 117-page report submitted in March this year, by the Expert Committee appointed by the Delhi High court had recorded large-scale violations of labour laws concerning workers' rights at various CWG projects. It needs to be noted that the Expert Committee comprised the former Indian Ambassador to the United Nations Ms Arundhati Ghosh and Special Rapporteur of the National Human Rights Commission, Dr Lakshmidhar Mishra; besides the Secretary (Labour) and Commissioner (Labour), Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi. The point is that despite such a Committee's findings of large-scale labour law violations, if after protracted Court proceedings, eventually the guilty get away with some punishment (which are very common place for such violations), most of the victims may have already suffered the ignominy and or shunted out or replaced sans any compensation.

At least, workers' deaths at worksites of prestigious CWG projects should have been taken seriously for hauling up the guilty, making them pay necessary compensation to the families of the deceased and for mending ways to avoid similar accidents in future. Nothing of the sort happened. First, to various RTI queries, the Labour Department said, it had no consolidated figures of total deaths at CWG projects. But, then in September 2010, the Department in an affidavit to the High Court, admits that, in all, 45 workers had died at various projects. However, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), in an affidavit put the deaths at Metro sites alone at 109, since 2003. There were no details of any remedial measures taken by them.

What does the Manmohan Singh Government's labour policy as reflected in the Commonwealth Games, boil down to? It is in shambles. In essence, it is no different from what Ms Aruna Roy, member National Advisory Council and a leading social activist of Rajasthan, has said in the context of Government's Minimum Wage Policy in NREGA. To quote Aruna Roy, “The Union Government is reneging on its legal obligation to pay minimum wages, even to the most deprived sections of the population, in implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.”

Further, “keeping a drowning population's nose just above the water might be the Government's concept of economic growth with a human(e) face. While the poor have to be subsumed by the financial crunch, the ineffective “steel frame” continues to get its dearness allowance of 10 per cent for six months, without batting an eyelid.” While, billionaire clubs too keep expanding.

And, she very rightly concludes: “This hypocrisy must end.” (The Hindu, 23.10.2010)
(IPA Service)