The death of an Indian worker at a private steel plant in Sri Lanka on Tuesday has exposed the callous manner in which workers are brought to the island-nation, and trapped in factories from which there is no escape.
A 29-year-old Odisha worker, Manas Kumar Mallick, of Jajpur's Barapada village, who was working as an assistant fitter at Confab Steel Private Limited in Muddaragama in Gampaha district, was electrocuted in an accident classified as industrial.
The semi-skilled worker was brought to Sri Lanka in December last year. Confab Steel, a company set up by an Indian, employs 153 persons, of which 101 are Indian.
A sister concern of the company, Bhuwalka Steel Industries, which commenced operations much earlier — in 1999 — employs 300 persons, of which 200 are Indian.
Concessions
Both are Board of Investment companies, which means they enjoy certain concessions.
The modus operandi of bringing in a worker from India runs thus: get agents to recruit people from impoverished places, get a tourist visa for the worker, make him sign a contract in English — a language he doesn't understand — and herd him into a vehicle once he reaches Colombo. How an impoverished worker gets past the radar of immigration with a tourist visa is a question that authorities in India will have to answer.
The rest of the procedure seems to have been incredibly easy: convert the visa into an employment visa with help from the Sri Lankan authorities, house him in a camp next to the work place, and pay him a fraction of what was promised. The condition of housing, too, is pathetic, and doesn't meet any standards under labour laws of either country.
Mallick's contract, which was seen by The Hindu, is a revelation: it wasn't written on stamp paper; a plain white paper was used. The contract expressly says the company isn't responsible for any losses suffered by the worker in the plant. There is a vague sentence which says the insurance will take care of any accident. No worker seemed to know which was the insurance company, what premium was paid or how much the compensation was.
After the Indian High Commission in Colombo intervened in the issue — workers had preferred a complaint with it — it was revealed that the compensation through insurance was LKR 3 lakh (2.5 LKR = 1 INR). High Commission officials told the owner of the company, an Indian, in no uncertain terms, that this wasn't acceptable. The workers demanded a compensation of INR 15 lakh, and a final settlement was made at INR 5 lakh. The company has also assured the Indian High Commission that it would send the body home at its own cost, and also provide return air-tickets to Mallick's two brothers, who are also employed in that company.
Under watch
Enquiries reveal that the company was under watch for at least the past 5 years. Even then, it has been able to bring in people with impunity, and with no fear of law, either in India or in Sri Lanka. In fact, the company has been placed in the ‘prior approval' category by the Protector General of Emigrants here, and also in India.
Keywords: Indian worker's death, Manas Kumar Mallick, job rackets
Just like many a forefather of Jaffna Tamils who used to visit Lanka
seasonally during the 17th century to Jaffna to til the land to grow
tobacco for the Dutch, there are a lot of Indians coming here right
now on tourist visa helped by racketeers who engaged them in various
work including paddy harvesting thereafter. Just Like the so-called
Sri Lankan Tamils of today these new comers too will be 'Sri Lankan'
Beharis and etc in the future.
Any company in Sri Lanka first priority should be given to Sri Lankans before they hire people from India. There are so many young locals who cannot get into work force still in this country, the labor department should intervene and help these young people get some help for them to get trained and give them the chance of earning their living. Please do not let these lawless companies come to Sri Lanka and violate the regulations of the country.
We dont want Indians coming here, if we alloe them today, they will ask for a homeland tomarrow
Most of the indian business are not genuine here and also more issues in all aspect such as employment terms and corporate governance. Most of such businessman are corrupt.
Indian companies setting up shop in Sri Lanka should be forced to hire
local Sri Lankan workers - not bring in more Indians to do the job. Of
what benefit is it to Sri Lanka to have these companies when almost the
entire workforce is filled with Indians? There are already more than
enough Indians illegally living and working in Sri Lanka thanks to the
free visa on arrival system. They, along with these lawless Indian
companies should be shown the door.
South Indian Tamils were first brought to Sri Lanksa from time to time by the colonial rulers first in the 16 th century to work in their tobacco plantations. After that by the British to work in tea plantations.The people who fight for a separate state now are descendants of these labourers. Sinhalese who are of accomodating nature have accepted them to their country thinking they will integrate to their society. But unfortunately that has not happened because they are ungrateful and now want more more and more
Indians making a big fuss about the live of Tamils in Sri Lanka should
learn a lesson from this incident. If minorities are so badly treated in
Sri Lanka - as claimed by Indians - how come Indians are desperate to
come to Sri Lanka in search of work ?
Indian illegal immigrants have come to Sri lanka for generations, because Sri Lanka is like heaven for them compared to conditions in India.The forefathers of present day Jaffna Tamils(Kallathonis) also came like that and now after receiving free education(which is given to all irrespective of their ethnicity or discrimination ) now they want a separate state. Even their sun god Prabhakaran`s father too has come to Sri Lanka as an Illegal immigrant looking for a job. It is a well established fact and he himself has admitted that.
There is a long-standing and continuing corruption in an authority called the Protector of Emigrants in India. Unless this authority stamps the exemption on the immigrant's passport, he cannot leave the country. Sri Lanka has a comparatively good record in protecting and regulating conditions of work in factories and other workplaces. Unfortunately in this case there is a failure. It is for authorities in that country to look into the lapses and enforce that country's laws including minimum wages and health insurance.
Indian businesses operating in Sri Lanka lack many of the mandated
safety and labour regulations.I know of a certain Indian factory which
closed down a few years ago was making Sri Lankan women employed in it
to handle items coming in directly from an acid bath in its production
line without protective gloves. As to signing of contracts many people
who sign contracts in the Middle east sign contracts written in Arabic and they don't get even an English translation.These practices are brought in by shady Indian business into Sri Lanka having done it in places such as the Middle East.Any self respecting Sri Lankan corporate will never do this type of safety and labour regulation violations.
It is sad that Indians are so desperately poor and lack resources to
find meaningful work in India despite all your arrogant rich people.
Hence you need to use people who are desperate to come to Sri Lanka illegally to work where life is infinitely better for them than in backward Rajasthan. Now that the war is over, we have desperate S.Indians and
even Bihari types coming in ILLEGALLY to occupy our country like they
did in the 1960s.
Isn't ironic that India is concerned about the aspirations and opportunities of Tamils in Sri Lanka, but Indians have to go to Sri Lanka to find employment? Sri Lanka has always had better opportunities, infrastructure and equity among ethnic groups. Indian government should concentrate on providing similar opportunities in India so these poor Indians don't have to go overseas for employment. If you think working conditions in Sri Lanka are poor, you should look at how Indians are treated in the Middle-East.
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