Southern States - Kerala   

Law to curb `labour mafia' soon

By Ignatius Pereira

KOLLAM May 25. The Kerala Labour Minister, Babu Divakaran, has said the State Government proposed to introduce a Bill for curbing the `extortion spree' resorted to by a `construction labour supply mafia' under trade union labels at major work sites in the State.

Talking to The Hindu here today, he said that while the activities of the mafia would appear to be labour welfare oriented, it was not the reality. Most trade unions are involved with the mafia and its operations are mainly centred around Kochi city. As a result, construction activities are getting stumped, affecting the development process in the State.

He said the operations of the mafia had even affected the construction work of the Cooperative Medical College in Ernakulam. This, in turn, has given rise to fears whether the college would lose its recognition, as the building mandatory under the recognition norms is not being met.

Mr. Divakaran said several private sector projects are held up following threats from the mafia and if no solution is found, development activities in the State as visualised by the State Government could come to a grinding halt. "Such swashbuckling cannot be tolerated, especially in a year when the Government has committed itself to development."

He said that whenever any new construction work was taken up, the mafia insisted that the labourers should strictly be from the pool supplied by it.

If it is a major construction site, a list of more than 100 labourers is thrust upon the site owners.

Failure in meeting the demand would result in the mafia creating obstacles to the progress of the construction work and the Cooperative Medical College in Ernakulam is a victim of such threat. The Minister said that it had come to the notice of the Government that many construction site owners in Kochi city were shelling out lakhs of rupees per day as "daily wages" for "construction labourers" in the list slapped upon them by the mafia in spite of the fact that none from the list was actually working at the site.

He said the mafia had been in operation in Kochi city for the past couple of years and had the backing of powerful trade unions. He said while the activity is currently centred in Ernakulam, the trend was seen to be spreading to other parts of the State too.

He said that the draft Bill for the purpose was ready and that before introducing the Bill the State Government would hold talks with all concerned in order to convey the seriousness of the issue.

The draft Bill has been tentatively christened `The Construction Work Site Labourers Regulatory Bill'.

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