The district health administration officials who inspected various labour camps in the district, have found that migrant workers were housed in crowded, inhuman conditions, without safe drinking water or any sanitation facility, posing a grave health hazard to them as well as the local people.
Following the report of the District Medical Officer, the Kazhakuttam police filed a case against a person in charge of a labour camp as well as the landowner at Kazhakuttam under Kerala Municipal Act 340 A, which is a non-bailable offence. The DMO directed a labour camp of Nikunjam Constructions to be closed down. The Labour Department ordered that construction activities be stopped at one of the building sites of Nikunjam Constructions as there were scant precautions for workers’ safety.
The inspections were carried out as part of the Safe Thiruvananthapuram initiative of the district health administration, which aims at promoting public health and preventing spread of infectious diseases.
Officials of the Health, Police, Labour, and Local Self-Government departments took part in the inspections on Tuesday, which was undertaken after cases of cholera were reported recently in a migrant labour camp in Thrissur.
Officials found that in most camps, there were not enough toilets and potable water. At a labour camp in Kazhakuttam, which houses nearly 300 labourers, raw sewage was being directed through a pipe to a stream nearby. Officials visited 679 sites/buildings and issued 143 notices for public health offences including improper sanitation, non-disposal of garbage and for creating situations which could pose health hazards to the public.
