Construction Workers Locked Down & Out!

30 Mar 2020 Editorial Team

Photo courtesy: Reuters

The Lock Down announcement, in view of the current situation of the Coronavirus or COVID-19 plaguing the economy, should have also provided for the living and travel guidelines for the migrant labour at construction sites. Although the Finance Minister has announced a Construction Workers' Fund , in India, most of the migrant labourers are provided bare living facilities on the construction sites. With the sites being closed under the Lock Down, the construction workers had no option but to fend for themselves. In the absence of any advisory and fearing that they would run out of their accumulated bare minimum savings, since most send all income back to their villages, they decided to walk home. Thousands have chosen to walk from Delhi to villages in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and even Nepal from where they hailed. They would rather rely on the savings back home, their means of subsistence in a bit of land that they own and the family.

Watch this video going viral on construction workers.

Video courtesy: TOI Bareilly

Read my Open Letter to the Finance Minister with recommendations to help the real estate and construction industry recover from the Coronavirus Impact or Covid-19 Impact here.

Also read the Coronavirus or COVID-19 impact of real estate here.

Telangana Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) KT Rama Rao had convened a meeting with the Construction & Builders' Association representatives and stated that all the construction and infrastructure companies should take care of the migrant labourers who are working at their sites. Some of the companies have provided such facilities. This directive comes in a bit late as hordes of migrant workers are already on their way home in many states.

A redeeming feature is that several villages have barricaded themselves in and have made it mandatory for the returning city dwellers to accept a 14-day quarantine outside the outskirts of the village in a makeshift residential facility to prevent infection in the villages. This has happened in Maharashtra and in Andhra Pradesh.

About the Author:
Pratap Padode is Founder, ASAPP Info Global Group, and Editor-in-Chief, CONSTRUCTION WORLD. He is also Founder & Executive Director at FIRST Construction Council and Smart Cities Council India.

Building Material

18 Sep 2025

Ambuja Cements Drags JSW Cement to Court Over ‘Kawach’ Brand

Ambuja Cements, part of the Adani Group, has filed a trademark infringement case against JSW Cement in the Delhi High Court, alleging that its rival copied the ‘Kawach’ brand with its new product ‘Jal Kavach’.Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora issued summons to JSW Cement and its subsidiary, JSW IP Holdings Pvt Ltd, while referring the matter to mediation. Hearings are scheduled to resume on October 15 if no settlement is reached.Ambuja, which registered the ‘Kawach’ trademark in 2019, argues that the term ‘Kavach’—meaning shield—is the distinctive feature of its branding. ..

Bentley Systems Named Innovation Partner of the Year 2025 by Afcons

Bentley Systems, the infrastructure engineering software company, has been recognised by Afcons Infrastructure Limited as its Innovation Partner of the Year 2025 at the Innovation Partners 2025 Felicitation Ceremony in Mumbai. The award acknowledges Bentley’s contribution to Afcons’ engineering digitalisation journey through an enterprise agreement providing access to over 250 Bentley engineering software tools. This adoption has enabled Afcons to accelerate project delivery, standardise digital workflows, and strengthen innovation across its infrastructure portfolio. Among key i..

SBI Sells 13.18% Stake in Yes Bank to Japan’s SMBC

State Bank of India (SBI) has completed the sale of a 13.18 per cent stake in Yes Bank to Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) for over Rs 8,889 crore. The divestment is part of a Rs 13,482 crore deal finalised in May with SMBC and seven private banks.Following the transaction, SBI’s shareholding in Yes Bank stands at 10.8 per cent. The deal, involving 4,134.4 million shares at Rs 21.50 each, is the largest cross-border transaction in the Indian banking sector.SBI Chairman C S Setty described the 2020 RBI-led rescue of Yes Bank as a pioneering public-private partnership, addi..