Families wiat for bodies in Malda

Statesman News Service

MALDA. Dec. 25. — Serving as a pointer to the grim reality of the poor in the state and callous work conditions in big cities where they end up in search of employment, 10 construction workers from the Malda district of West Bengal were killed yesterday when the basement roof of an under-construction, multi-storey shopping mall caved in in the Jasolia village of south Delhi.

It was a nerve-wrecking scene of grief in the Ratua block, when the Malda additional SP, Mr D Baral, called on the family members of the victims. The people in the village burst into tears. The villagers had already received the sad news from TV news channels. One Nitai Saha, one of the workers who survived the collapse, called the local villagers after the mishap from New Delhi, police said. Even as the Malda district administration was preparing to send the relatives of the victims to identify the bodies as required before the post mortem, the Delhi government decided to exempt this formality and send the bodies as early as possible. Meanwhile, the CPI-M leader Mrs Brinda Karat met the Delhi chief minister, Mrs Sheila Dikshit, and requested her government to bear expenses for sending the bodies to their homes, informed Malda DM Mr Abhjit Choudhuri. The resident commissioner of West Bengal government in New Delhi, Mr P Banamali, informed the state government early today about the incident. Subsequently, the Malda DM was asked to convey the sad news to the family members of the victims. According to reports, a group of 28 labourers from Ratua village in Malda had gone to New Delhi only a few weeks ago and joined the construction work there. One Sheikh Bablu and his associates had engaged more than 50 workers from this area in New Delhi three weeks ago for building construction. Family members of Sheikh Akhtar, a victim, said they have lost their bread earner. Aktar’s mother, Tohora Bewa, his wife Afsari Bibi, and daughter Masila, were inconsolable when the officials reached with the sad news. “We have lost our bread earner. How could we live now,” they wailed. The family members of Jahoor Ali (20), another victim, could not believe Jahoor was no more. They live at Baikunthapur Mominpara village in the Ratua block, 50 km north of Malda town. Jahoor’s mother, Tamina Bewa, and sister, Jahirul Khatun, could not even speak when the shocked locals called on them to mourn the death of Jahoor. “We expect the bodies to reach Malda by 27 December,” the Malda DM said. He has instructed district police to hand over the bodies to the family members after their identification.

Those killed The following were on the list of the dead: Ruksat Ali, Atul Chandra alias Kalik, Shankar, Gandhi, Suresh Mondal, Rahul, Uday, Juhoor Alam, Sheikh Akhtar and Ajit Mondal.
Pic collected

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RE: Modern day SLAVE TRADERS

The death of the labourers is only a fleeting manifestation of the enormous exploitation of the poor by building contractors who are modern day SLAVE TRADERS. If you live in Delhi (as I do), you will see evidence of this every day. The contractors bring whole families of poor from West Bengal, Orissa, Rajasthan, Bihar, and other states. While the parents are working on the construction sites, their children, including little infants, even new-borns, are neglected. The night temperatures in Delhi had dropped to 3.3 degrees earlier this month, but the labourers and their little children sleep in the open -- without even a tent -- on side-walks. It is common to see wailing infants, all alone: their mothers or fathers nowhere in sight. The families cook their own food -- none is provided by the contractors. After the contract work is over, the labourers and their families are often abandoned by the contractors.They have nowhere to go. This is one of the main reasons for the sprouting of the very large number of SLUMS in Delhi. I suggest there should be some legislation to compel at least public enterprises like DDA or PWDs to ensure the well-being of the labour employed by their contractors. This should be made a pre-condition for the award of contracts, and independent persons should be appointed to monitor the welfare of labourers.NGOs and Human Rights organizations PLEASE NOTE. These poor people are HUMAN BEINGS just like you and me. tsraman96@rediffmail.com